The Soul's Journey
by iHateFridays
Summary: Monsters everywhere, another prophecy, and a boy healing. Nico di Angelo wasn't sure how saving the world was going to go this time, but he didn't expect he'd be babysitting and protecting an unrealistically beautiful girl from perhaps every monster in existence. Especially since she knows way too much about him. Will he come out as a hero, or crack under the pressure?
1. A girl in the snow

**Hey guys! I've returned to the PJO fandom at last with another fanfic owo**

 **I got out of PJO for a while, then I got back into it again, and got an idea for a new fanfic. It's all about one of my favourite PJO characters, Nico. I was hoping to show off his kinder side in this fanfic. ;p**

 **This isn't OC x Nico, I mean he's with Will in this fanfic so... it's more of a friendship thing. Nico deserves friendship okay...**

 **I made a speedpaint video for the cover, you can watch it on my YouTube channel (iHateFridays) if you're interested.**

 **Happy reading and I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Hey there.

I know what you're thinking: _where's Percy Jackson?_ I can't blame you, I'd be asking the same question. Percy is way better at this writing stuff. Yet, here I am. Why did I agree to do this? Well, I was asked (ahem, _pleaded_ ), to record my adventure by Chiron. Even though I have dyslexia. Yeah...

Who am I? I am Nico di Angelo, the son of Hades. Yes, I know. Underworld. While I may be creepy, I'm not evil. I promise.

This is a story of something… very… _un-Hades-like_ , to be honest. A very un-Hades-like _quest_ , that is. Well... maybe. You'll see what I mean.

...

Well. I guess I can't beat around the bush anymore.

This whole nonsense began with, as with many other demigods' quests, a dream.

* * *

I was standing in a quiet street. The road was covered in a layer of cracked snow. Small houses, faintly lit by the rising sun, sat behind white fences. Lawns were covered in melting snow. It seemed to be early morning. A pleasant morning.

Then, beneath a lamp post, in a pile of snow, I saw something horrible.

A dead body.

I woke up with alarm, almost banging my head on my bedhead. I was sitting in my cabin (lucky number 13) at Camp Half-Blood, the training grounds (and one of the only safe places) for demigods like me. I climbed out of my bed, almost shivering from the icy weather. While I had basically _covered_ my bed in blankets, the cold still managed to get through. I hate winter. And it's not just because of the weather, it's because it's that time of the year when... certain family members are around.

I stood up, hugging myself. Despite how stupid-cold it was outside, I felt an urge to shadow-travel to that… body. I had to see if it was real. I couldn't just let a potentially dead body sit there, could I?

I got up, slipping on a winter jacket (my boyfriend would yell at me if I went outside without it) and shadow-travelled to the street I saw in my dream. The real place was pretty much identical to my dream; the snow was there and everything. Unfortunately, so was the body.

I ran towards it, ignoring the fatigue shadow-travel gave me. I could rest later.

There was indeed a body in the snow. I walked over to it. Thankfully, they weren't dead, but they weren't in a healthy state either.

I kneeled down to pull the body out of the snow. It belonged to a young girl wearing clothing that could only be described as a 'plain Jane' style: grey t-shirt, dark grey jeans, grey scarf. But when I almost dropped her when I saw her face.

Her skin was milky-white, without a single blemish, freckle, or birthmark. Her cheeks were rounded, but puffy with a slight blush. Her chin was perfectly sculpted. Her hair reached up to her neck. It was a light brown with blonde streaks at the tips. I had never seen anyone so, well, _beautiful._ (Don't kill me, Aphrodite, Aphrodite's cabin, Will.) It was like I was staring at Barbie's long lost sister. I kid you not, I was _intimidated_ by her beauty. I wanted to leave her there, in case I ruined her hair or scratched her perfect skin.

Now, I assure you, I _am_ gay and I _do_ have a boyfriend. But her beauty was like a _trance_. My homosexuality may have saved me in the end, as well as the fact that this girl was like ten and it was pretty weird to perv on a kid. Oh, and she was dying. Did I mention that? I shook my head, and held her body. I focused on shadow-travelling back to Camp. I ended up in the infirmary, which was open, luckily enough. Probably because Will is an early riser. My boyfriend was there, talking to a young kid.

"Just try not to run too much for the next few days, and you'll be fine," Will told the kid, patting them on the shoulder. He nodded at them as they left. He looked up and smiled at me. "Hey Nico, what's…" He trailed off when he saw the kid in my arms. His eyes widened. I almost felt jealous. I wish he'd look at _me_ like that.

"Found her in the snow," I explained. "She needs help. Urgently."

"She's…" Will was staring at her like she was a goddess. I can't blame him, I was doing the same thing five minutes beforehand. "I…"

"Will, she's _dying_." I said, getting my boyfriend out of his trance.

"R-right," Will cleared his throat. "Put her o-over here." He stood over a medical bed. I put the girl on the bed, and Will put his hand on her forehead (nervously, I must add). He frowned and pulled out some Ambrosia and Nectar.

"We'll need fresh clothes," he said. "And blankets. It's on you, di Angelo."

I gave him a nod and went off to retrieve those things. Will has often said we make a pretty good team, and even joked about us going into the medical business together: him as the main doctor, me as the assistant. I've learnt a few things about healing from him (as well as plenty of lectures about my mental and physical health), but that does not necessarily mean I want to become a doctor. I might fail to save a patient, and then they'd find me in the Underworld and never leave me alone. Summoning spirits would be a _nightmare_.

But I digress. Working with my boyfriend… well, I can't say I _hate_ the idea…

Anyway, I got the clothes (a camp t-shirt and jeans) and the blankets. I brought them to Will, and he immediately put the blankets on the girl. He gently removed her old clothes and slipped the new ones on. (It didn't get weird or pervy, I promise.)

"Maybe I should call Hestia here," I said. "Or, at least, bring this girl to her fire."

Will looked thoughtful. "Only if we need to. I don't want to disturb a goddess."

"Don't worry, Hestia's pretty easy-going," I said. "And much nicer than other gods. She won't mind." Hestia is my personal favourite Olympian (sorry Dad). She's really nice, and was one of the only people who wouldn't flinch when I was around or act as if I had some contagious disease. She's almost like… a friend. An Aunt and a friend. And she enjoys talking to me too. I was, after all, one of the only few who had talked to her in a long time...

"Then go! Get her." Will said. I nodded and ran off to find the goddess, who was sitting by the hearth as usual, tending to the flames. I told her about the scenario. Just like I expected, she was willing to help. She and I stood before the girl.

"I have not seen such beauty in millenia..." Hestia commented, quietly. She paused. She almost seemed… sad. Like she was thinking about something. Then she provided a warm flame for the girl.

"She will wake soon," Hestia said, looking at us. "And when she does… well, do take good care of her."

"Of course, my lady." Will bowed. I simply smiled at Hestia. Unlike other gods and goddesses, you don't have to call her 'Lady Hestia' or anything like that. She doesn't mind. Hestia smiled back at me. It looked like she was about to say something else for a moment, but then simply left. I had a feeling she wasn't telling us something, but I decided not to press.

"Well," Will turned to me. "She's looking better already." He made a face. "How did you find her, anyway? It's not like you to be up at this time of the morning."

"... I had a dream," I said. "I saw her lying in the end of the street, in some snow."

Will looked thoughtful. "Hmm… I think the Fates intervened somewhere…" He looked at me, serious. "Just a hunch, but she might be part of something big."

"Wonderful," I groaned sarcastically. "As if we haven't had enough of prophecies."

Will smiled at me reassuringly. "Nothing the Ghost King can't handle, right?"

"Sure." I said, not with a lot of confidence. I stared at the girl for a bit, curiously. Will squeezed my hand and kissed me on the cheek.

"Come on," he said. "Let's go get some breakfast."

Sometimes I think I have the best boyfriend in the world.

* * *

 **A/N: Before you scream 'MARY SUEEEE' at me, there is a reason this character is unrealistically beautiful. It's a reference to something in Greek mythos actually. ;) See ya later!**


	2. A new prophecy

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews, follows, and favourites! Hope you guys like this chapter. :3**

* * *

"Stand still," Will was holding onto my bow. And my hands, which made me blush. "Now… aim."

I released the arrow in my bow. It reached the edge of the target.

"Well," Will sighed. "At least you're actually on the target now."

"Cut me some slack," I crossed my arms. "I can't be any worse than Percy Jackson."

Will laughed. "That's true. No matter how much he tries, your cousin really isn't built for archery."

I nodded in agreement.

Will looked over his shoulder, noticing another child struggling with her bow and arrow. She shot an arrow into the sky, which almost impaled a satyr eating tin cans.

Will grimaced.

"I gotta go and help that kid out before she accidentally kills someone," he sighed, facing me. "I'll catch up with you later."

"'No worries." I said. Will was counsellor of the Apollo cabin. He did have a lot of responsibilities. So do I, but since I'm literally the only member in my cabin, not as much. Hazel visits sometimes, but that's about it.

I left the archery area. Maybe I could help some demigods practice sword-fighting. I did that if I was in a good mood. That or rescuing demigods. The satyrs can't do it _all_ by themselves. Although I'm not the best at welcoming new campers. I tend to accidentally scare them off.

I began to wonder how that girl I rescued was doing. Think of the devil, as they say, and I saw her checking out the arena with Chiron. Yep, she was walking and talking. People were giving her wide-eyed glances. Even Chiron himself seemed a little anxious.

The girl was wearing the orange camp shirt, which was a few sizes too big (whoops, my bad), so it looked like she was wearing an orange poncho. Her pants weren't oversized, at least. Her hair was pulled back with a headband, and she was still wearing that scarf. She looked healthy, which was a relief since she was almost dead a few hours ago. She was gazing curiously up at the centaur.

I walked over to them. Chiron was explaining what people did in the arena to the girl. He smiled when he saw me.

"Ah, hello, Nico," He said. "I was waiting to introduce you to this young one."

The girl smiled shyly. She was even more beautiful awake. Her eyes were like blue sapphires, and trust me, I know what sapphires look like. Her face was brighter now, and she was practically glowing. I was almost at a loss for words. I shook myself out of it. She was probably ten or something.

"Hey," I held out my hand. "I'm Nico di Angelo."

The girl hesitated. She seemed nervous. I understood why. I wouldn't call myself the most _hospitable_ demigod. Though, still, it tugged at my heart. Everyone _had_ to be scared of me.

She shook my hand. "I'm… Isabella. Isabella Johnson."

"Nico here was the one that found you," Chiron said. "And brought you to camp."

Isabella stared at me with awe. "Wow… t… thank you…"

"No problem, kid," I said. "My boyfriend and Hestia did most of the healing, though."

"You mean that girl and the blonde guy?" Isabella asked. I nodded. "Coooool." She made a face. "Wait, was Hestia a… goddess?"

"Indeed," Chiron answered. "Do you know what she is the goddess of?"

"Goddess of the Hearth?" Isabella asked.

Chiron smiled. "Very good!" He turned to me. "I am teaching Isabella basic knowledge of mythology. It seems she doesn't know quite a lot."

Isabella blushed.

I nodded. "Good luck, then. There's a lot to remember." I turned to Chiron. "Has she been claimed yet?"

"Not yet, but I have my suspicions of who her godly parent could be." Chiron said.

"Aphrodite?" I asked.

"Well, it is the most obvious choice." Chiron smiled down at Isabella. She looked up curiously.

"That means she'd be Piper's little sister," I said. "No problems there. As long as she doesn't become like Drew Tanaka."

"Mr. di Angelo." Chiron scolded, crossing his arms.

I shrugged. "Sorry. Drew's not a favourite camper of mine."

Chiron sighed. "Come along, Isabella. We have a tour to continue."

* * *

As usual, I sat at the Apollo table for lunch. Don't worry, I had a doctor's note. Sitting by myself at the Hades table usually causes quite a few problems with the undead, such as zombies randomly spawning, and campers running and around and screaming. It pretty much takes the entire lunch hour to sort it all out. And then I get hungry, and I'm _not_ a happy camper when I'm hungry. So I sit at the Apollo table with my boyfriend. I stick out like a sore thumb compared to the others, but Will's siblings are slowly getting used to me. I think. Hey, they may or may not be my siblings in law in the future.

Isabella was sitting at the Hermes table, the place where all the unclaimed demigods go. I'd sat there myself a few years ago. I noticed the others were kind of sitting away from her, as well as giving her very odd glances. She didn't seem too thrilled about it. I felt empathetic. I knew what that felt like. It hurt.

"You better be eating some vegetables, Nico," Will looked at me. "You can't just live off burgers and fries and Gatorade."

"Now you sound like my aunt." I groaned.

Will frowned. "It's good for you. As your doctor, I order you to eat some vegetables."

I held up a fried potato. "Look, here's a vegetable." I took a small bite out of it. "Happy now, doc?"

Will sighed. "You're hopeless, Death Breath."

"Mr. Shiny."

"Zombie Boy."

"Doctor Overprotective."

"Corpse Face."

"Sunshine H-"

"Alright, we get it, move on!" Kayla, Will's half-sister, groaned.

Will and I just smirked at each other.

* * *

Later on I was giving a tour to yet another new camper (I was in a good mood) when I noticed something happening at the Aphrodite cabin. I saw Isabella there, as well as few of the Aphrodite campers. And Drew Tanaka. Sigh.

Isabella didn't really look like she was having a good time. The campers were all glaring at her accusingly. No idea why. Isabella was backing away slowly. I bit my lip, tensing up.

"Mr Nico?" the new camper tugged my jacket. "Are you there?"

I wiped my eyes and stared back at the kid. "Yeah. Just got distracted. That's all."

I glanced at the cabin one more time, before walking off. I resisted the urge to summon any zombies. It wouldn't make me look great in front of the new kid.

* * *

I'll just skip over the rest of the day, since it wasn't too eventful (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). After dinner, we went to the Amphitheatre for our evening dose of singing and toasted marshmallows. I don't really sing and dance around, I just prefer to watch. And toast marshmallows. Will is the one that does all the singing and dancing. People also tend to get claimed a lot there. And then we have to bow 9969566597590759730 times.

The singing was starting to get kind of annoying, as it usually does, and that's when I noticed Isabella wasn't there. I frowned, and my curiosity overtook me. I crept away from the fire, which wasn't too hard. That singing is _really_ loud sometimes. I slunk around the camp, looking for the girl. I almost had a feeling of where she was. I used to exclude myself from the fire and hide when I was younger. I never felt like I belonged. Don't worry, it's gotten better thanks to my friends.

Sure enough, I found Isabella sitting by herself, nearby the strawberry fields. She had a sad look on her face. She was fiddling with her scarf.

"I used to do the same thing," I said, appearing out of the shadows. Isabella jumped five feet in the air. Usually happens when people meet me. "Except I'd go a little further out, more towards the beach."

"Y… you…" Isabella blushed. "Shouldn't you be… at the campfire thingy?"

"Shouldn't _you_?" I asked. Isabella looked away, embarrassed. I sat down nearby her. I usually do this with all outcast campers. If there's a kid looking sad and lonely and sitting by themself, I'll go and talk to them. If they want to be alone, they'll tell me. But they seem to appreciate it most of the time. It's the least I can do. I don't want anyone else to feel the same way I did.

Yeah, I'm no people person. My boyfriend tells me this a lot. But I can relate to loners. Considering I kind of was (am) one.

"I… I guess," Isabella said. "It's just…" She looked away. "Everyone is… nice, I guess… not as mean as… people I know, but still… they're weirded out by my beauty and stuff. I… I hate being pretty…" She sniffled. "Everyone hates me."

"Outcast just because of the way you are?" I sighed. "I know what that feels like, kid. That happened to me once everyone knew my godly parent. _I_ was an outcast. I felt like I didn't belong anywhere. It took years for me to finally fit in." I gave her a small smile. "One day, Isabella, you'll find your place. You'll find your niche. It may take days, weeks, years, of suffering and heartache, but you _will_ find your place, somewhere. I learnt that the hard way. Don't give up on the world, no matter how much it sucks."

I was seriously spending too much time around Doctor Solace, who was _also_ my therapist. As well as my friends.

Isabella looked like she wanted to reply, but suddenly, we were interrupted by a lot of very passionate yelling from the Amphitheatre. I could see the flame from where I was sitting; it was much brighter than normal.

"What the Hades?" I grumbled. "What's going on over there?" I stood up. I turned back to Isabella.

"You'd better come," I said. "It might be something important."

Isabella nodded and followed me as we ran off. We arrived shortly at the Amphitheatre, where everyone was screaming at the resident oracle, Rachel Dare. She was holding her head down, her hands twitching. Her red hair was blowing in the faint breeze.

"What in Gaea's name is going on?!" I demanded.

Rachel turned around and stared at me. I took a step back. Her eyes were glowing green, and green, soupy mist was pouring out of her mouth. She pointed at Isabella, who yelped and hid behind me.

" _The child of the soul,_

 _A destiny so cold._

 _A journey she must make,_

 _A heart she must break._

 _The son of Hades protects her fate,_

 _Yet in the end she cannot truly escape._

 _A hero's blessing she must earn,_

 _Or evil consumes and Mount Othrys burns._ "

No one spoke. Rachel returned to her normal self, shaking her head. I bit my lip. I'm not a fan of prophecies, that's for sure.

"Mount Othrys?!" I asked. "But isn't that place...?"

Chiron bowed his head. "Not yet... it appears... it is making a final comeback."

"W-what?" I asked.

"Nico," Chiron turned to me. "I believe you know what this means."

"I..." I looked down. I sighed. "I have to go on a quest."

Chiron nodded. "The fate of evil depends on you."


	3. I hate early mornings

I hate prophecies that involve getting your heart broken. It's happened to me before, and I was not looking forward to it happening again.

But I didn't have much of a choice. I had to take Isabella Johnson to Mount Othrys or evil would be unleashed. Because apparently, that stupid mountain was making a comeback. And I couldn't just shadow travel there, Isabella needed the 'blessing of a hero'. Which, in other words, meant a hero actually had to journey with her and everything. And that hero had to be me, unfortunately.

Chiron said that the gods had been waiting for someone like Isabella for a while. With her, the evil of Mt. Othrys (or Mount Tamalpais, whatever's your fancy) would be banished. Supposedly. I thought it had already been banished, but apparently not. The Romans just weren't _enough_ to contain it. Admittedly, though, I had got a lot of bad feelings when I went into the mortal world. A lot more monsters were around. I had to start saving _mortals_ as well as demigods.

Isabella's godly parent was still a mystery. She hadn't been claimed. Whatever. This prophecy was stupid and I was not looking forward to this quest. I was _not_ a babysitter. Sure, Isabella was a nice kid and all, but chaperoning her for a while with no help? Different story.

Oh, and I had to protect her from every monster that tried to kill her as well. She needed to be _alive_ for the prophecy. Did I mention there were a ton more monsters around than usual? As you can probably tell I could hardly wait.

Neither could anyone else, apparently. They seemed even more wary of me than usual, and kept giving Isabella and I weird glances. A bit annoying when you want to drink your soda in peace. My boyfriend, and a few others, were the same as usual, I guess. But I still couldn't get the weight off my chest.

In the end I just sat at my old spot at the beach. I was sick of people.

Isabella sat next to me. There was some silence as I drank my soda. She didn't seem uncomfortable or anything. That was certainly new.

"Most of people are scared of me, y'know," I said.

"Most people are scared of me too," Isabella replied, gazing into the distance. "Or they want to use me."

"Some people are very stupid," I replied. That was true too. A lot of pretty bad people exist. That's what the Fields of Punishment are for.

There was another pause. I decided to attempt being 'social' again. "So... nervous about the quest?"

"Maybe," Isabella said. "I don't even know what a quest is."

"Yeah, you got a quest straight off the bat," I agreed. "That doesn't happen often."

Isabella sighed. "I don't even know... I just... why me?"

"Trust me, kid, I ask myself the same question every day," I said. "There's more honour in death than life, that's one thing."

Isabella didn't reply to that. She just combed the sand through her fingers. I had a feeling I might've said something wrong. Oops.

"Well, if it makes you feel better," I said, "this is technically my first quest too."

Isabella looked surprised. "Really?"

I nodded. "Yep. So this'll be... interesting."

 _Interesting_ is only one of the many words you can use to describe a quest. Especially one like this.

* * *

The quest started with my boyfriend waking me up really early in the morning.

"Rise and shine, princess!" he cheered, shaking my blanket. "Guess who's going on a deadly quest today?"

"Get lost." I groaned, rolling over.

"Come on Nico, you can't be late!" Will said. "It's a _quest_! I need to help you get ready!"

"It's barely light, Will!" I whined. "Five more minutes?"

"Nope," Will said sternly. "Get up, Death Boy."

Will managed to drag me out of bed and help me pack my bag. We put fresh clothes, Ambrosia and Nectar, 5 bottles of Gatorade, mortal money, some drachmas, a bottle of water, a map, and some granola bars and sandwiches into the bag. Isabella met with us outside the Big House, wearing similar clothes as she was wearing the first time I saw her. She was nervously tugging at the scarf around her neck. Some campers that had gotten up early were staring at her with awe. She didn't look tired. At least someone had a good sleep, I guess.

I yawned sleepily, as Chiron approached us.

"Argus will drive you to the nearest train station, and you will catch a train out to DC." Chiron explained.

I nodded. "Got it."

"There, it is your responsibility to take this young one to Mount Tamalpais." Chiron said.

"Babysitting," I sighed. "Wonderful. I'm hyped."

"I have faith in you, son of Hades," Chiron said, kindly. "You, so far, have shown the greatest connection to young Isabella. I believe you of all people will be able to protect her for the duration of the quest."

I sighed.

Will came over to me, arms crossed. "Look after yourself, Nico. Don't pull any all-nighters. You need your sleep."

"Sure, Ma." I grunted.

Will gave me a hug. "Stay safe, Nico. Seriously. Don't get yourself hurt! And make sure you IM me at least twice a day!"

"Yep…" I said, slowly hugging Will back. Will then looked down at Isabella.

"Make sure he eats and sleeps," he said. "If he doesn't, IM me and I'll tell him off."

"I can hear you, you know." I grumbled.

Will just laughed. Isabella giggled as well. I rolled my eyes.

Will gave me a kiss on the cheek and clapped Isabella's shoulder, before walking off. I sighed and turned to Isabella.

"Ready, kid?" I asked.

"No…" she admitted.

"Me neither." I sighed.

We climbed into Argus' van anyway. I pulled down the window to talk to Chiron.

"One more thing," I said. A lump built in my throat. I suddenly realised how nervous I was. "If Hazel, Percy, or anyone else stops by… tell them that I'm thankful… thankful they're my friends."

Chiron nodded respectfully. I sighed, putting the window back up. As the van drove off, I just stared at the chair in front of me. I hoped this wouldn't be the last quest I'd ever go on. I wasn't ready to be a permanent resident of my dad's realm just yet.

"I'm sorry…" Isabella apologized, after some silence. "You obviously don't wanna be here."

I frowned. "Well, no, not really. I'd rather be in my cabin, sleeping."

"No," Isabella said. "You don't like babysitting."

"Is it _that_ obvious?" I sighed. "I'm not a kid person. Sure I help out demigods from time to time, but chaperoning for a whole quest? Different story."

"And I'm dangerous," Isabella said. "Because of me, a lot of monsters will come and you might get really hurt." She looked away. "And mortals too."

I sighed. "This is a quest. You have to do what you have to."

There was silence for a bit. I stared out of the window, looking at all the boring fields and people and other stuff. They made me think of my crazy step-mom, Persephone, and her even _crazier_ mother, Demeter. If she were here she'd be lecturing me about cereal or plants or whatever. And Persephone would probably turn me into a flower again. My family is just _wonderful_.

Suddenly, Isabella brightened up and turned to me. "Hey, can I get a white hot chocolate from Starbucks? Then can we go to the mall?"

I was surprised by happy she suddenly became. I blinked and shook my head.

"Kid, we have a quest to go on," I said.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean we can't stop somewhere!" Isabella said brightly.

"Starbucks is way too expensive," I argued. "It's like, five bucks for a drop of coffee. And we don't have unlimited cash."

"Aww, but white hot chocolates are the best!" Isabella sighed. "They have cream on them and everything!"

"Can't we go to McDonald's?" I asked. "It's way cheaper and quicker. Plus, I use their food to summon the dead."

Isabella just stared at me.

"You can summon the dead?" she asked, in awe.

"Yep," I replied. "Son of Hades perk."

"I forgot who Hades is…" Isabella looked embarrassed. I sighed. This was going to be a long quest.


	4. Starbucks is overpriced

We went to Starbucks.

First thing's first, it's _expensive_ , and we were on a budget. Seriously, five bucks for a small coffee! I miss McDonald's. It's faster, quicker, and the staff don't scream out your name when it's time to collect your drink. I don't know, something about strangers screaming 'NICO' across the cafe bothers me…

On the flipside, my coffee wasn't awful. It was strong enough to wake me up, for the meantime. (Don't tell my boyfriend I was drinking non-decaf coffee.) And besides, Isabella seemed to enjoy her white hot chocolate. She even let me have a sip of it, and I got myself on a bit of a sugar high. I was pretty sure my boyfriend would never let me hear the end of it if he knew I had such a drink. So _don't_ tell him.

Anyway, we were sort of chilling out and relaxing, enjoying our expensive beverages. I rubbed my forehead, trying to collect my thoughts together. Not always easy. I still had no idea who Isabella's godly parent was. It was getting annoying to have mortals gawking at us and I was resisting the urge to throw my expensive coffee at them. It wasn't going to be any better on the train. Mortals would be staring at us there too.

Isabella sighed. "I wish I was ugly… then maybe, things would be easier."

"Things are _always_ hard for demigods," I said. "Life's not fair that way."

"Yeah, but, at least people wouldn't be staring at me all the time," Isabella replied. She frowned. "Dad had to get a security system and completely lock up the house to keep predators out. He even hired a bodyguard at one point." Her voice croaked when she said 'Dad'. I had a feeling that was a sensitive subject, which I understood pretty well.

I raised my brow. "Seriously?"

"Yeah," Isabella pouted. "School was… awful. A lot of people tried to attack me… monsters, I guess, and no one really wanted to talk to me. The teachers wouldn't let me be alone, though." She looked away. "Dad eventually started homeschooling me."

I gave her a sympathetic nod. "We've all had it rough, kid. Like I said, life's not fair. But that doesn't mean it can't get better. You're better off trying to improve than doing nothing at all, trust me."

Isabella smiled a bit, but then started frowning again. There was an awkward silence between us.

"So, uh…" I attempted to start a conversation, which isn't really a strength of mine. "I found you in a pile of snow at the end of a street… how did you end up there?"

Isabella was about to answer, but she got distracted by something.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Huh?" I asked. I followed her gaze, which was directed at the window. Two girls were standing there, ogling me. They waved cheerfully at me, holding pom poms and clothing that wasn't very, well, kid-friendly.

"You have… fangirls?" Isabella asked, almost laughing.

I narrowed my eyes. "We should go." I stood up abruptly. I had a bad feeling about these girls.

"Aww, but I didn't finish my drink…" Isabella sighed. I walked off speedily, avoiding the glances of mortals. "Wait up!"

Isabella and I slunk out of the cafe. I looked around, staring at all the street names (which weren't that fun to read, thanks dyslexia) and paths. I speed-walked towards the path to the train station, Isabella on my heels. I didn't want to waste energy fighting in case we needed to shadow travel, so I figured it was best to blend in with a large crowd of mortals and hopefully the monsters wouldn't be able to find us.

Unfortunately, this didn't work.

The girls rushed in front of us, giving us huge, lipstick-covered grins. Isabella hid behind me.

"Hey, cutie," one of the girls said. She had long, dark brown hair and bright blue eyes. She was wearing so much makeup she could've put the Aphrodite cabin to shame. Well, almost. It would take a _lot_ to out-do the Aphrodite cabin.

I could tell there was no way we could get around these ladies, so I sighed. We were going to have to fight.

I was pretty sure they were monsters, but on the very, very slim chance they could be crazy mortals, I didn't draw my weapon just yet.

"I'm gay," I snapped. "And I have a boyfriend, so get lost."

"Aw, honey, don't be that way," one of the other psychos said. She had curly blonde hair, kind of like Annabeth, but she didn't have Annabeth's grey eyes or overall intelligence. Her green eyes glimmered. She reached out a nail-covered hand, clutching my chin. I didn't care if she was mortal or not, I slapped her arm away.

"I said _get lost_." I repeated.

"Aww, honey," the first girl giggled. "But you have something that we want."

They both eyed Isabella hungrily. She borrowed her face in my jacket.

"Not a chance," I said. I held up my sword. "We have a train to catch. I won't hurt you if you get out of my way."

The girls laughed like that was the funniest thing they'd heard all day. They began to change form, and they weren't so pretty anymore. They turned into these hideous creatures with pale skin, flaming hair, red eyes and sharp fangs. They each had a donkey leg and a bronze leg. I backed up, and Isabella continued to whimper into my jacket.

Empousai.

"You will not succeed, son of Hades," the creatures hissed. They flew towards me, holding out their claws.

I held up my sword. "Stay back, Isabella."

One of the Empousai almost scratched my face. I luckily dodged her attack, and slammed my sword into her side. She yelped, falling over. The other Empousa screeched and came from above, kind of like the Furies do to me sometimes. (Long story.) I summoned two undead warriors, which kept the Empousa occupied for a little while. The other Empousa was approaching Isabella. Isabella was covering her face, and stepping back.

"Oh no you don't." I growled. I raced towards them. I made the ground disappear under the Empousa's feet. She screamed and flailed about, falling into the darkness. Gods, that sounds dark. Well, that's what I'm all about, I guess. I felt a wave of nausea. I shook it off, turning back to Isabella. She was staring at me with wide eyes.

"That," she breathed in. "Was AWESOME!"

I just weakly smiled in response. Smiling too much hurt my face muscles. The other Empousa had been weakened by my army, so it was easier to take her out. Once I did, I took a breath of relief.

"Come on," I looked at Isabella. "We better go. We don't wanna miss the train."

"My lord." one of the soldiers walked up to me. "More monsters are approaching."

It was right. In the distance, I could see more Empousa coming towards me. I almost dropped my sword. _Seriously?_

"Delay them," I told my soldiers. "We're not missing that train." And I did not want to waste more energy.

I grabbed Isabella's arm and raced towards the train station. Unfortunately, it was the huge and busy one: Grand Central Station. I clenched the money in my pocket, hoping it would be enough to buy some tickets. We were headed to DC, which was our checkpoint, essentially. Though, knowing the life of demigods, it could get hectic pretty quickly. If we really needed to, we had my zombie chauffeur, but I didn't want to use him unless I had to. He wouldn't be as fast as the train.

I shoved my way past the crowds of mortals, apologising as quickly as I could. Usually I wouldn't be so rough, but in case you didn't notice, we had a schedule. I kept my grip on Isabella's arm, as we made our way to the train. (I hate physical contact, by the way, so that wasn't making me feel any better.)

I managed to hastily buy train tickets, while bouncing up and down on my toes. I guess the sugar high I'd got from the white hot chocolate had made a comeback. I sighed in relief when the attendee gave us our tickets. We might just make it!

And then the Empousai returned.

"Fool!" they cackled, running towards me. I scrambled out of the way, still grabbing onto Isabella's arm. I inched towards the train. With my other arm, I held out my sword. Having two arms has it advantages.

The Empousa launched towards me. I swung my sword, shooing it away. I got closer and closer to the train. Then another Empousa came from the side, forcing me down onto my back. I glowered.

"We are not missing that train." I growled. I stabbed the Empousa in the chest, disintegrating it. I grabbed Isabella's arm, and raced towards the train. The other Empousa came from the side, but this time, I saw it, and stabbed it before it could cause anymore trouble. I wiped my brow. My hand was sweaty and my arms ached. I turned to the train, but…

It was moving away.

I growled.

"Fates be damned," I sighed. I grabbed onto Isabella's shoulder for one last time. "Sorry, kid."

And I shadow-travelled us onto the train.


	5. I kill an old enemy

I used to like trains. They were mostly pleasant (aside from certain monsters… and mortals), quiet, relaxing… well, if there weren't many people on the train, that is. I don't enjoy being cramped against complete strangers.

My late sister, Bianca, knew the train timetables like the back of her hand. I never paid attention to anything like that. Too obsessed with Mythomagic and pirates. I regretted it now. Why? Because we'd got onto the wrong train. I didn't even realise until Isabella pointed out that we were heading towards Massachusetts instead of Washington. I was so annoyed that when we got off on the next station, a crowd of zombies was there waiting for me, groaning and waving fans in my face. I'm not kidding.

So we had to go _back_ to that stupid Central Station, and catch the right stupid train to the right stupid city. I was cursing the whole way. I got even grumpier when monsters approached. Well, at least no mortals bothered us. Mostly.

Eventually, good news, we did get on the right train. Isabella sighed as I glared out the window. I tried to control my temper. I didn't need zombies spawning everywhere and harassing random mortals. Isabella was respectful, at least. She didn't pester me with any questions or annoy me any further.

I started to get a bit tired, but there was no way I was sleeping right now. We had a full day ahead of us.

"You're tired." Isabella said, looking at the ground.

"No I'm not," I grunted, not really in the mood to be scolded by a sassy intimidatingly beautiful 10 year old.

"Yeah, you are," she said. "Using your powers made you tired. You should sleep."

"I swear, you're just like my boyfriend." I sighed.

Isabella blushed. She made her voice sound assertive, kind of like Will's. " _You should also not eat any junk food. Don't do Underworld-y stuff. Sleeeeeeeppp!_ "

I rolled my eyes. "That's him, alright."

"Are you gonna get married to him?" Isabella asked, with a smirk.

"Married?" I sat up. "Kid, I'm _14_! Will's 15!"

"You're 14…?" Isabella asked. "I thought you were at least 19!"

"A lot of people say that." I shrugged. Though, chronologically, I'm around 84. Not really that surprising I act older sometimes.

"You have a lot of darkness in your soul for someone who's 14," she said, her tone suddenly serious. "I don't think I've ever met anyone who carries so much pain. Not even my dad."

I felt myself stiff up. That really hit me out of nowhere. Was Isabella _that_ perceptive? I frowned, clenching my fists. I didn't like talking about my past. I didn't like the fact that Isabella somehow knew about the 'darkness in my soul'. It almost felt like an invasion of privacy.

"How do you know that?" I asked bitterly. "I never gave you access to my emotions."

"I… I dunno…" she said. "I just… knew. I've always been able to tell how people are feeling."

"You're psychic?" I asked.

"I really don't know…" Isabella shook her head. "It's just… compared to a lot of other people back at camp, you stuck out like a sore thumb. I could sense your pain from a mile away."

I furrowed my brow. "And you didn't mention this before, because…?"

"I didn't think you'd like it." Isabella admitted.

I gritted my teeth. I imagined the ground outside would've been trembling.

"You're right about that," I growled. Isabella stepped away from me, fear in her eyes. Even the mortals looked freaked out. I sighed. I took a deep breath, and tried to calm down. It was not time to get angry.

"It's just… all that stuff is really personal," I said. "I barely know you, and you're discovering all my feelings."

"I know," Isabella sighed. She looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I won't bother you with it, I promise, Nico. I don't wanna hurt you." She muttered, "This is why everyone hates me."

I had to sigh. "Thanks." I sat down, staring at my fingers. Isabella tentatively sat next to me. There was a pause.

"I don't hate you, by the way." I finally said.

Isabella smiled. "Well… I think you're really smart. And nice. And scary. But in a good way."

"Thanks?" I said, the corner of my lip twitching. "Good to know I'm scary in a 'good way'."

Isabella laughed. "And... kinda funny, too."

Suddenly, some mortal came up to us. He was looking at Isabella in a weird way. He then reached out and grabbed her arm, grinning darkly. Anger rushed through me like fire.

"Let her go or you will answer to me." I growled in the same voice I used to command the dead, as well as giving the mortal a glare worthy of my dad. The guy immediately let go and ran away.

"Thanks..." Isabella said. A tear rolled down her cheek. I awkwardly patted her shoulder.

"I'm scary in a good way." I faintly smiled. Isabella laughed, and leaned back. I glared at the mortals staring at her, daring at them to try anything. They all looked away. Turns out I'm a pretty good bodyguard. Or maybe just good at scaring people off.

"Well, um, wanna play a game while we wait to get to Washington?" Isabella asked. "I'm kinda bored."

I bit my lip. "Alright. What else can we do. What game?"

"I spy." Isabella replied, eyes shining.

I sighed. That game was pretty basic. "Fine. You can go first."

"Okay," Isabella looked cheerful. She gazed around the carriage. "I spy, with my little eye… something beginning with… m."

"Hmm…" I looked around the carriage. Not a lot of things started with m. "Um… money?"

Isabella shook her head.

"Mother?" I asked, pointing to the end of the carriage, where a woman was holding a baby.

Isabella shook her head once again.

I frowned. "Uh…" I kept looking. And then I saw something alarming. "Monster!"

"Nope." Isabella said. Then her eyes widened. "Wait, what?"

I grabbed Isabella and pulled her under the train seat, narrowly avoiding a handful of poison spikes.

"Son of Hades!" a voice screamed. "Give me the girl or I'll have your head!"

I recognised that voice. I clenched my fists.

"Dr. Thorn." I growled, climbing out from under the chair.

"So we meet again, Niccoló di Angelo!" the manticore chuckled, looking just as ugly as he had four years ago. "You thought I was gone forever? You insolent fool! I am only the beginning of what is to come!" He raised his tail, glaring hungrily at Isabella and myself. "Now you will die!"

"Isabella, stay under that chair." I told my young friend. I leaped out of the way of a poison blast, and unsheathed my sword.

"Even you cannot stop the prophecy, Ghost King!" Dr. Thorn chuckled. "We will rise once again, and I will feed on the flesh of you and your beloved demigod friends!"

I shadow-travelled behind the manticore, attacking him from the back. He roared as he was flung to the ground. He quickly got up, and charged towards me. He whipped his tail at me, which I swung at with my sword. I got slammed into the ground. My back ached. I thought the manticore would go after me, but instead, he turned to Isabella. She backed away with fear.

"Touch her and that will be the last thing you do." I growled in my most threatening voice at the manticore, gripping my sword tightly. I couldn't really summon the dead too well, since we were on a moving train. That got me thinking. If I wanted to beat this guy, I had to take him elsewhere…

"You think I am scared of you, son of Hades?" the manticore cackled. Isabella ran away from him, tightly clutching her scarf. I stormed over to Dr. Thorn, but he whacked me away again, and left a nasty, well, _thorn_ in my side. I yelped out in pain, falling to my knees. I gritted my teeth. The best thing to do when you have a splinter or thorn in you, Will says, is to take it out. I forcibly pulled the thorn in my side out, and immediately put myself in pain about thirty times worse than before.

I looked back up at Isabella, trying to stand up despite the awful pain. Dr. Thorn was approaching her once again. And just as I thought she was doomed, her scarf suddenly glowed… and transformed. It turned into a long, white whip, tipped with celestial bronze. I had a feeling the Furies would be jealous of it.

(And she may've been the first demigod I'd ever seen to use a whip...)

Isabella waved the whip around, and struck Dr. Thorn with it. He cried out, jumping into the air. I weakly stood up, the pain making me dizzy.

"Foolish girl!" Dr. Thorn boomed. "You cannot defeat me!"

He raced towards her again. Isabella may've had a weapon now, but she didn't really have any fighting skills. The idea resurfaced in my head. I scrambled around in my backpack, grabbing some ambrosia. I stuffed it in my mouth, hoping it would reduce the awful pain a little bit. I stood up, just managing to keep my balance.

"Hey," I growled. "You idiot manticore."

Dr. Thorn turned and glared at me. "Do not interrupt me, Niccoló."

" _Don't_ call me Niccoló," I snapped. I walked over to the manticore, holding out my sword. "If you want the girl, you'll have to get through me first." I roared and slammed the manticore with my sword as hard as I physically could (which wasn't as hard as it could be since I was, y'know, _poisoned_ ).

"Come and get me, you fat lion!" I jeered, running away. Dr. Thorn didn't like being called a 'fat lion' and immediately chased after me. We ran through carriage after carriage. I may or may not have accidentally knocked over a few mortals and jumped over a pram. And I definitely did not steal some lady's brownies. Not at all.

Anyway, I made it to the end of the train. There was a locked door, where the captain was driving the train. I made sure the manticore knew I was there, before I shadow travelled inside. The captain almost passed out when I suddenly appeared in front of him.

I shot him an apologetic smile, just as the manticore broke the door down, roaring like a, well, lion.

"DEATH TO YOU, SON OF HADES!" he screamed. I shadow travelled to the roof of the train, waving my sword in front of the window so the fat lion would come after me. I ran across the roof, narrowly avoiding getting hit in the face by a tree. I heard a crash of glass, and sure enough, Dr. Thorn was now on the roof.

"I WILL EAT YOUR FLESH!" he boomed. He bounded after me. I kept stepping back, jumping over gaps between the carriages. It was slightly daunting running across the top of a train. There was a high risk of falling off. But, up here, Dr. Thorn couldn't hurt Isabella or any mortals, and it would be easier to get rid of him.

I held out my sword as the manticore came closer. I gave him a harsh glare, gritting my teeth. I stepped back a little further and swung my sword as he came close. He roared out.

"YOU WILL BURN IN THE FLAMES OF TARTARUS!" he screamed.

"Been there, done that," I muttered. The manticore swung his tail at me again; I dodged it, albeit narrowly. I stumbled for a second. Dr. Thorn then suddenly jumped towards me. He grabbed my neck in his claws, squeezing my throat. It wasn't doing my lungs any favours.

"Enough of this!" He roared right in my face, because no, being strangled wasn't good enough, I had to go deaf as well. "You will DIE NOW!"

He stuck _another_ thorn in my side. Well, it was my shoulder, actually. I couldn't even scream since my voice was gone. But the pain was enough to get a croak out of me. My vision went blurry and I wanted to vomit. Dr. Thorn gave me a dark smile, and then threw me overboard. I slammed head-first into a tree. I slid to the ground, my head aching. I felt the back of my head, and felt traces of blood. I coughed up some blood as well, my shoulder still aching in pain. There was no way I could stand.

When my eyes finally fluttered open, the train was disappearing into the distance. I held out a weak hand, then pulled it back. I gritted my teeth, my breathing shaky. Everything hurt. I wanted to lie down and die.

And then I remembered Will, Isabella, Hazel, Reyna, and so many other people. As well as this stupid quest. And I knew it wasn't over, not yet anyway.

I forced myself to sit up. I took my jacket off and pulled the thorn out of my shoulder. I dug through my backpack, and nibbled on some ambrosia and had a swig of nectar. I cut off my sleeve next, and wrapped it around the wound in my shoulder. I tied my jacket around my waist, and grabbed my sword. The pain was still there, but it wasn't as bad. I weakly stood up, and glared at the distance. Now that I could focus more on, well, thinking, I was suddenly feeling _very_ angry. Dr. Thorn was going to get it.

I ran into the closest shadow, holding up my sword. I appeared back on the train, scaring the living daylight out of some mortals. I could see (and hear) Dr. Thorn ahead, screaming death threats and other stupid stuff. I snuck through crowds of disturbed mortals, glaring dangerously at the manticore. Even the mortals knew I meant business and moved out of my way. Most of the time I try not to act _too_ scary around mortals; I try to avoid them, or keep them out of danger. When mortals get involved in demigod issues it gets _really_ messy.

Today I didn't have much of a choice. I got close enough to the manticore, and stayed quiet and still, which us children of Hades are generally good at. I saw Isabella with her scarf-whip, holding it in front of her. Dr. Thorn leaped towards her; she narrowly dodged him. I waited until his back was facing me. Then, brandishing my sword, I shadow-travelled behind him, and (look away squeamish people) stabbed him in the back. Literally.

The manticore yelled so many curse words at me I could make a dictionary out of them as he turned to dust. I wiped the dust off my jacket, stepping back. Isabella stood there, eyes wide.

"Wake me up when we get there." I said. And then I passed out.


	6. An alluring factory

I didn't really want to get up, but we didn't have much of a choice. Isabella woke me up, and we got off the train. As we walked through the Washington station, a lot of memories came flooding back to me. I bunched my shirt up in my fist. This wasn't really a great time to have childhood memories.

Isabella gave me a sad smile. "It's okay, Nico… you just have to stay strong. You know this place really well, don't you?"

I sighed. "You know everything, huh?" I slowed my pace a little bit, gazing at the exit to the station. It was a pretty big and busy station, and a nice aesthetic as well. Didn't compare to the Grand Central, but it was good. I was hoping we'd be able to take a lunch small break (and a calling-my-boyfriend break), then continue on this crazy mission. I knew a shortcut to a nice motel we could stay for the night, since travelling around at night time isn't a _great_ idea, even for me. Plus, sleep sort of helped me recover. And my boyfriend would kill me if I didn't sleep.

Isabella shrugged innocently. "Wait… so, I bet you lived here, right?" I nodded. "Did you… ever go to the White House?"

I frowned. "To be honest, I don't really remember."

"Aww," Isabella looked down. Then up again. "Can we go to the White House?"

"Quests aren't about sightseeing, kid," I replied. "They're about doing some stupid, usually world-saving errand for the gods and the universe and trying not to die along the way."

"Oh," Isabella's face went blank. "Why do demigods have to do it? I mean, gods are all powerful, aren't they? They can't die, or… um, die… or…"

I suppressed a laugh. "The gods have restrictions. They can't really get involved in mortal affairs. They're also busy. They _also_ can't go into any other god's territory without being invited. Unfortunately…" I sighed. "Us heroes can."

"Wow," Isabella stared at the ground. "That sucks."

"That's the life of demigods," I bit my lip. "Everything sucks."

"Nah," Isabella said. "Being too beautiful sucks. While you were sleeping on the train, some monsters… and mortals… tried to approach me." I gave her a stern look. "You were sleeping, Nico… I didn't want to wake you up."

"Are you okay, though?" I asked, kind of bitterly. "I'm not allowed to let you get killed. If I did it's game over, for both of us. And the world."

"I used my whip thingie on the monsters…" Isabella said. She blushed. "And I kicked the mortals in their rude areas."

I raised my brow. "I thought you couldn't fight."

"My dad showed me some moves." Isabella said, smirking.

"Ah," I nodded. "Cool." I gave her a small smile. "Well, use those moves when you can. It'll help you out."

Isabella gave me a thumbs up. Then she tilted her head. "Where are we going?"

"We're just having a lunch break," I said, patting the back of my head, which only had a small bump on it now. My clothes were still kind of tattered, though. "Calling my boyfriend. Getting some new clothes. And then we're going to a motel."

"Sounds… relaxing." Isabella commented.

"Trust me, when you're a demigod, _nothing's_ relaxing." I sighed, shaking my head.

* * *

We went to McDonald's, of course. I wasn't going to waste my money on Starbucks all over again.

Isabella got a Happy Meal, while I just got a burger and some fries. And a soft drink. Stay healthy, kids.

We sat down near a fountain (which was active despite the cold) and had our healthy, fancy lunch.

"So," Isabella said, halfway through a chip. "Do you summon the dead a lot?"

"Sometimes," I replied, looking up from my burger. "Only when I need to talk to them. Or vice versa."

Isabella nodded. "And, um… is it hard?"

"Depends," I shrugged. "It's usually more annoying than hard. The dead tend to get on your last nerve."

"Oh…" Isabella said. She looked down at her french fries. "And… how do you summon them? With McDonald's, I mean."

"Well, firstly, I go to a cemetery, put the McDonald's in a gravestone, do a chant… hey…" I stared at my young friend. "Why are you so interested, anyway?"

"I, just, think it's really cool!" Isabella replied, smiling brightly. "To be able to summon the dead… it sounds cool."

"Really?" I asked, raising my brow. "Most people find it creepy."

"I'm not 'most people'." Isabella replied, winking.

I made a face. "Point to you, I guess." I glanced at my reflection in the water. I looked tired, sunken, and beat up. And it was only the first day.

"I bet the chants you say to the dead are weird." Isabella said.

"Nah," I replied. "They're just things like 'let the dead rise, let them eat again', stuff like that."

"Ohhhh," Isabella nodded. There was an odd glint in her eyes. "Nice!"

I raised my brow, and stood up. "Well, I've gotta change out of these clothes before I call my boyfriend, or he'll lecture me for three hours."

"To the bathrooms!" Isabella declared, punching the air. And that's where we went.

I hate public restrooms so I'll spare you the details. But basically, I got changed. I was wearing a Beatles shirt (that I may or may not have stolen from my boyfriend), a black hoodie, and dark grey jeans. And combat boots, of course. No demigod goes without combat boots.

"You wear a lot of black." Isabella told me.

"You wear a lot of grey." I retorted.

"If I wore any other colour, I'd draw more attention to myself…" Isabella smiled sadly. "I have to look so boring so… people will… ignore me."

I shrugged. "Understandable."

We went back to that fountain thing. Hopefully the Mist would cover up my Iris message. I pulled out a drachma.

"What are you doing?" Isabella asked.

"Sending an IM," I replied. "You'll see." I flicked the coin into the water. "Lady Iris, please accept my offering." I took a deep breath as a screen appeared before me. "Will Solace, Camp Half Blood."

The image of my boyfriend appeared there. He was sorting out arrows in his cabin.

"Hey." I said.

"Nico!" Will jumped. "Don't scare me like that!"

I shrugged. "Can't help it, sometimes."

Will rolled his eyes. "How's the quest going so far?"

"Same old same old," I replied. "A manticore almost broke my skull by throwing me off a train."

Will gasped. "Holy Apollo! Are you okay?! Did you eat Ambrosia and Nectar? _Please_ tell me you rested."

"Yeah, yeah, it's fine now," I said. "Just a bump on my head."

Will breathed in. "Phew. Make sure you eat as well. Healthy food will give you energy. _No_ McDonald's. You haven't had any McDonald's, have you?"

I winked at Isabella. "Of course not, Will. I wouldn't dream of it."

"I'm serious, Nico," Will folded his arms. "And don't go overboard with that Underworld-y stuff either!"

"Okay, okay," I waved my hands. "Calm down."

Will sighed, shaking his head. "Well, camp's okay, I guess. No new campers yet. Only a few minor injuries and burns from those climbing the lava wall." He paused, and made a sad face. "It's not the same in the infirmary when you're not here, you know…"

"I know," I replied, suddenly awkwardly. "I… I miss you."

"I miss you too," Will smiled at me with that radiant smile of his. "Finish this quest so you can join my team for Capture the Flag. You can help me try to get people not to be TOO violent…" He frowned.

I made a face. "I can't stop that totally, but I _will_ try."

"Also," Will waved at Isabella. "How are you?"

"I'm okay," Isabella said. "Your boyfriend likes you very much. He thinks you're cute."

"Isabella!" I blushed bright red. Will blushed too, and laughed.

"Glad to hear it," he winked at me. I heard some yelling in the background, and heard him sigh. "That's Kayla. I gotta go, Nico. Stay as safe as you can." He waved his hand through the message, and his face disappeared.

I glared at Isabella. "You're a little minx."

Isabella just giggled. I sighed.

* * *

Isabella followed me as I made my way through the streets, glancing at my map every few seconds.

"So, this is… a shortcut?" she asked me.

"Yep," I nodded. We made our way through more streets, approaching a large factory. It loomed into the sky, bringing down large shadows. Which I wasn't complaining about. "Just a little further, and we'll be there."

We walked past the factory. I was kind of hugging myself, a chilly breeze blowing through my hair. I still did not like Winter. Oh well, at least it wasn't as snowy here.

"Um…" Isabella's voice had a weird tone in it. "I… kinda have a bad feeling about this."

"That's natural," I replied. "Just be on guard."

We were approaching the end of the factory. It didn't seem like any monsters were going to come out and attack us.

Yet.

Then Isabella stopped and stared at the factory.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"There's… something in there," she said. "I… I can feel it."

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "It's a glass factory."

"I have to go in there," Isabella insisted. "Please, Nico. I have to."

I had a bad feeling about this.

"It's probably a trap," I said, folding my arms. "Monsters like messing with us. We shouldn't go in."

"No," Isabella turned away from me. "It's not a trap! There's no way. I can feel it. It's connecting to my soul. It can't be a trap."

"I don't like this," I said. "I-"

"We have to," Isabella insisted. " _I_ have to."

"Isabella…" I frowned. "Please-"

Isabella ran towards the entrance of the factory.

"Hey!" I raced after her. "Come back!"

She ignored me, and kept running towards the entrance. The grey doors and walls loomed above, and I could hear the machinery groaning inside. The clouds swirling in the sky weren't a good omen. Especially when Isabella smashed the door open.

"Isabella!" I grumbled. I raced past obstacles, getting to the entrance. I hauled the door open, ignoring glass flying everywhere. I ran through the building, glancing nervously at the security cameras and machinery all around me. The lighting was scattered, and the ground was rumbling. The few mortals there weren't paying attention to me, strangely.

"Isabella?!" I called out. I stood in the middle of some conveyor belts, looking all around. She was nowhere to be seen.

And that's when I spotted an army of monsters. In the middle of them was Isabella.


	7. An old friend stops by

Isabella had a distant, spacy look on her face. She had her eyes glued on something. The monsters were grinning wickedly, closing in on her.

I clenched my fists. The ground beneath us trembled. The monsters looked around in confusion. Even Isabella briefly looked up.

I took a deep breath. I had to stay calm, for the sake of this rescue.

Isabella looked at her hands. Then she looked at all the monsters. Suddenly, she appeared frightened. Can't blame her. I'd feel the same.

"Wh… where did all of you come from?!" she asked, shaking. She reached for her scarf.

"Now, now, dear, no need to worry," a female voice said. It belonged to a fat, snake-like woman, wearing a blue dress. A name came to my head: Echidna, the mother of all monsters. (Not to be confused with the Australian native.) "We brought you here for a special reason."

I dug my nails into my skin. Of _course_ it was a trap. I knew it. But Isabella didn't, of course.

"You… did?" Isabella asked.

"Indeed," Echidna gave her a smile. "We've all been waiting to see you for a long time. You are very special, dear."

I knew that look in Echidna's eyes. She was up to no good.

Isabella, still looking like she was in a trance, kept staring at the mother of all monsters.

"It's not just because I'm pretty… right?" she asked.

"Not at all," Echidna chuckled. "You're very powerful."

I snuck behind some factory structures, no clue what they're called, staying in the dark. I reached some stairs. As quietly as I could, I crawled up, getting closer to the roof. I was starting to form a plan. It wasn't the greatest plan, but I didn't have many options considering monsters were everywhere.

"So much more powerful than those Olympian fools will ever understand," Echidna continued. " _They_ are the ones that only see you for your looks."

I got to the top of the stairs. Carefully, I walked across a wobbly platform. I wasn't moving too quickly, because being super noisy wasn't going to help me in anyway whatsoever.

"B-but Nico's not like that," Isabella replied. "He's really nice."

I froze up.

"He believes in me," Isabella said. "And he knows everything will get better. Because he's kind."

I felt… sentimental. I wasn't expecting to be complimented, and it made me feel… weird. In a good way. And then I felt like crying. I shook my head. I had to focus.

"How do you know that boy really cares for you?" Echidna asked. "He could be lying to you."

"He's not lying," Isabella said. She sounded confident. "He wouldn't lie."

The monsters all cackled. I suddenly felt angry. I glared at the middle of the room, and gripped my sword's handle.

"You clearly have no experience with demigods," Echidna said, acting sympathetic. "They can be cruel and unkind."

Isabella looked away.

"That Nico _may_ care for you," Echidna hissed. "But no one else does."

And that's when I attacked.

I leaped off the platform, ninja-style. I raised my arms, summoning an army of the dead. The monsters roared out in surprise. I landed next to Isabella, my legs aching from the fall.

"Nico!" Isabella cried out.

"Don't trust monsters." I growled. I was about to grab her, but a force slammed me away. It belonged to Echidna.

"FOOLISH DEMIGOD!" she roared. "You will regret interrupting my plans!" She faced the monsters, who were battling the army of undead warriors. "Forget the deceased scum! Kill the boy!"

I got up. I had landed on my bad shoulder, which as you can guess, wasn't fun. I brandished my sword as a swarm of monsters raced towards me. The chances of me surviving suddenly decreased by 1000%. One demigod vs a whole army of monsters. Not good.

"Nico!" Isabella cried out again.

I slipped into the shadows, shadow-travelling away from all the monsters. I re-emerged nearby Isabella. I almost passed out. I made my way over to my young friend, and grabbed her arm. Then someone wrapped their hands around my throat and hoisted me into the air. The crazy mother of monsters.

"If they cannot kill you, then I will kill you myself!" Echidna cackled. "Perseus Jackson may have escaped me, but you won't, Niccoló di Angelo!"

I tried to breathe. That wasn't going too well.

"Nico!" Isabella pulled out her whip. "Let him go!"

"Now, now," Echidna stepped back. "How about this? I will let him go, scat-free, if you join us."

"What?" Isabella exclaimed.

"If not…" Echidna squeezed my neck. My vision went blurry. Everything hurt. "I will kill him."

Before Isabella could respond, an arrow landed in Echidna's head. The mother of monsters roared, abruptly letting me go. I, very professionally, landed on my butt.

"Curses!" she screamed, her body beginning to dissolve. Gold dust was everywhere. Isabella helped me stand up.

"Who…" I breathed out, looking for the person who shot the arrow. Isabella was pointing at someone, so I followed her gaze. My eyes widened.

"Thalia!" I cried out.

My punk cousin (I mean punk as in the style, though we all know Thalia is a punk in the other way too) was wielding a bow. Behind her were the Hunters, who were also wielding bows.

Thalia looked at me, and her eyebrows raised. While the other hunters focused on attacking the other monsters, she came over to Isabella and myself.

"What're you doing here?!" she yelled at me. She shared that ferocious look with her dad. "We knew there were monsters here, but…" She trailed off when she saw Isabella. "Who's this?"

"I'm Isabella Johnson," Isabella replied, casually. "I'm a demigod."

"Yeah," I said, standing up. "Long story. Maybe I'll tell it when we get out of here."

Thalia nodded. "Good idea." She glanced over me. "Good to see you, again, by the way."

I almost smiled. "You too, Pinecone Face."

Thalia snorted. "Death Breath."

"Lightning Head."

"Zombie Face."

"Air-"

"THALIA!" shouted one of the Hunters. "We need you over here!"

Thalia turned back to me. "Get yourself and… Isabella out of here. We can handle this."

I nodded. "See ya, Thals."

"Later, Neeks." Thalia replied, running off.

I grabbed Isabella's arm and got us out of there.

* * *

It was a big relief to be outside. I definitely wasn't going to visit any factories anytime soon. I slumped against the wall, taking in a deep breath. I skulled some Gatorade. Rescue missions were tiring. (And, um, I wasn't super _duper_ pleased to see the Hunters, aside from Thalia, I guess.)

"You… know her?" Isabella asked me.

"She's my cousin," I replied. "And a friend."

"Cool," Isabella said. She looked away, sad, for a moment.

"Hey," I said, a little louder. My friend looked at me. "Don't do that again. Monsters can't be trusted."

"I know now…" Isabella sighed. "Sorry…"

"Be careful," I added. "Sometimes the Mist even fools demigods."

Isabella didn't reply for a bit.

"I thought my dad was in there," she said suddenly.

"Huh?" I asked.

"My dad," Isabella said. "I… heard his voice. I thought he was in the factory."

"Oh," I said. "Why would he be in there?"

"I don't know," Isabella replied. She looked even more down. "He's dead."

I wasn't really surprised. I had kind of guessed, from the way she talked about him. And she had been talking about death, which explained a lot of things.

"He sounded like a good person," I told her. "Not every demigod gets a good mortal parent." _Or an alive mortal parent._

"He was like you," she said. "A really nice person."

I almost blushed. These compliments were making my knees wobbly. I decided to talk about something else.

"Those monsters were trying to get you to join them," I said. "Why?"

"I don't know," Isabella whimpered. "I don't know anything!"

I smiled, but it wasn't a happy smile. "That's demigod life. You rarely ever do."


	8. Lunch with the Hunters

**A/N: I love Thalia, she's flipping great. XD We need more cousin interaction. I don't ship Thalico btw, I just see them more as siblings. ;p**

* * *

Eventually, the Hunters showed up, and we followed them out of town. Isabella kept telling me I looked like I didn't want to be there. I can't say she was wrong.

The other Hunters didn't look like they wanted to be around me either. Others were looking at Isabella sympathetically. She seemed to notice this.

"Why are they all glaring at you?" she asked.

"They hate boys." I replied.

"Why?" Isabella asked.

"Part of the… agreement…" I said. "For joining the Hunters."

"Agreement?" Isabella asked.

"Indeed." a voice said behind me. A young girl was standing there. I recognised her almost immediately.

"Lady Artemis." I bowed. Isabella stared at me, then did the same.

"Nico di Angelo," Artemis acknowledged. "So we meet again." She glanced at Isabella, with a mixed expression. I bit my lip. I had a feeling she was going to ask Isabella to join the Hunt, which wasn't something I _particularly_ wanted to happen.

"Isabella Johnson," the goddess said. "A surprise to see you here."

"Um… yeah…" Isabella said, awkwardly. "Do I know you?"

"You do not," Artemis replied. "But I have heard about you. You are very important, from what I have gathered."

"Really?" Isabella asked, looking surprised. She looked at me. I shrugged back at her.

"Indeed," Artemis nodded. "You are… different. That is why I cannot offer you to join my Hunt. You must stay with this young man." She looked a bit disgusted by that. I held back some rude comments.

"What… is your _Hunt_ , if you don't mind me asking?" Isabella asked.

"Let us have a break," Artemis said. "And I will explain."

* * *

The Hunters had set up camp in a small, bushy area. Trees and all that. Isabella followed Artemis and a group of interested Hunters, while I stayed near Thalia. The Hunters were busy setting up meals and fixing their tents. Wolves were patrolling around too. Thalia watched her fellow huntresses with approval. We were standing a distance away.

"You guys make nice food?" I asked Thalia.

"The cooking got a lot better when a daughter of Demeter joined us," Thalia replied. "But it wasn't like it was ever disgusting or anything."

"No Iris-brand ROFL food?" I asked, cringing. Gods, I _hate_ that stuff. Even more than pomegranates.

"Nope," Thalia laughed. There was a short silence between us. "So... what's with that girl? Where'd she come from?"

I explained the whole story to her, as briefly as I could. Thalia seemed intrigued.

"Huh," she said. "Who's her godly parent?"

"No idea," I said. "We all think it's Aphrodite… for you know, obvious reasons."

Thalia nodded. "Artemis said she can't join the Hunters though. Why? Because of you?"

"Kind of?" I shrugged. "Artemis said something about… her being different, so that's why she can't join. I don't know what she means, but Isabella isn't like other demigods I've met. She thinks I'm nice."

Thalia laughed.

I scowled. "It's not _that_ funny, Pinecone Face."

"It's not that," Thalia said. "It's just… you're totally being a big brother to her, aren't you?"

I might've blushed. "Say what?"

"Yep," Thalia grinned. "I can tell, you love her."

"I do not!" I argued, looking away. "I mean- I've only known her for a few days! And I don't like kids. They're almost as annoying as my stepmother."

"Sure, whatever you say." Thalia said, sticking her tongue out. I glared at her.

"Nico!" Speak of the Devil, they say. Isabella ran over to me, a smile on her face. She glanced at Thalia, before looking back at me. "Did your dad really kidnap Kiara's sister Persephone?"

I looked away as Thalia started giggling.

* * *

I pulled out a bottle of Gatorade and some squashed sandwiches. Isabella seemed more interested in eating cereal from Kiara, the daughter of Demeter.

"This is betrayal," I told Isabella, glaring at her bowl of cereal. "You've gone to the dark side."

Isabella just giggled and ate her Lucky Charms. I sighed. At least Demeter would like her. Thalia just watched us with amusement. I gave her the stink-eye.

"Your cousin seems cool," Isabella told me.

"Cool," I grunted. "Sure."

"These girls are… all pretty cool, I guess," Isabella admitted. "Being a Hunter sounds… kinda cool, actually."

I scowled and scrunched up my bottle of Gatorade. I remembered my sister joining the Hunters all those years ago, only for her to die. I'd like to believe I got over it, but I didn't. I just learned how to move on.

"But…" Isabella spoke up. "I'd rather stay with you."

"You have to stay with me." I replied.

"I mean… even if I _could_ join the Hunters, I'd rather stay with you." Isabella said.

I raised my brow. "Seriously?"

"I like being your friend," Isabella told me. "I don't want to leave you."

I almost blushed all over again. For some reason, I felt all warm inside, like my boyfriend had just given me a hug. Or when I was welcomed as a Hero on Olympus. That kind of feeling.

"That's… sweet of you, kid," I said, my voice all weird and croaky. If only my sister had been the same. "I didn't really want you to join the Hunters anyway, honestly…"

Isabella looked up, that understanding that I loathed but loved so much on her face. "Because… you're angry at them… right?"

"My sister," I said, staring at my feet. "We were pretty close. She joined the Hunt a few years ago."

"You've got a sister?" Isabella asked.

"I had two," I said. "Well, one is technically my half-sister, but still."

"A half-sister?" Isabella asked. "Is she nice?"

"Yep," I nodded. "Her name's Hazel. She's a daughter of Pluto. Maybe I'll tell you more about her some other time. Anyway, my full sister joined the Hunt, and she went on a quest with Thalia and a few others. And she died while on the quest."

Isabella went silent. But a sympathetic look was in her eyes.

"She was a good Hunter," a voice said behind me. Thalia. "And a good friend."

"She wasn't a Hunter for that long, Thalia." I replied drily. This topic made me want to curl up into a ball and just disappear.

"Let's just forget it," Thalia sighed. "Are you guys staying with us or going to that motel?"

"Going to the motel," I said. I was not staying with the Hunters. No thanks.

"Aww…" Isabella looked disappointed. "I liked Kiara's cereal."

"If you want more cereal, my aunt will happily provide some for you." I told her.

"He means, if you want to be force-fed cereal for the rest of your life, talk to our aunt." Thalia added in. We rolled our eyes at each other. Isabella looked freaked out. I held back a snort.

"Well, um, if you guys are going…" Thalia trailed off.

I stood up. "Yeah. We should go."

Thalia handed me my bag. "We put some extra food in there for you."

I nodded in appreciation.

"Thanks, Thalia!" Isabella chirped. She ran forward and hugged my cousin. Thalia laughed, patting her head and hugging her back.

"You're welcome, kid," she said. "You let me know if Nico here gets you in any trouble, okay? He'll get a shock, for sure."

I scowled. "Very funny."

"I didn't forget you, Death Breath," Thalia said, giving me a hug. I froze up, as if she was made of ice. Gods, I'm still not used to hugs. Isabella just giggled.

"Don't hesitate to IM me," Thalia told me, quietly, "if there's any trouble."

I awkwardly hugged her back. You don't even want to know how awkward it was.

But hey. I appreciated her charity.

"Thanks, Thals." I said, as we moved out of the hug. Thalia clapped me on the shoulder.

"Catch ya later, Death Breath." she said, grinning at me.

"Farewell, Pinecone Face." I replied.

"Bye!" Isabella waved, as we walked off.

* * *

"So," Isabella said, after a minute of silence. "Why do you call her 'Pinecone Face'?"

"And that's yet another long story." I sighed.


	9. Sweet Dreams

**A/N: Note: a lot of the locations in here aren't real places, or at least that I'm aware of. I'm just going off my imagination and making my own that are realistic but not truly real. I'm not American so XD**

* * *

Good news: we arrived at the motel.

Bad news: we were in no way in for a peaceful stay. Though that really shouldn't be a huge surprise. We're demigods, after all.

After getting a key and all that, we headed into our little room. There were two beds, a small kitchen, and a bathroom.

"Dibs on this one!" Isabella went on the bed nearby the door.

"No complaints," I shrugged. "I wanted the corner bed anyway."

I slunk down on the bed, which really wasn't the best bed in the world, but hey, I can sleep anywhere. I stared at Isabella, who was jumping up and down on her bed. I was glad to see she was settling in, at least.

I looked outside. It was a nice evening, I guess. This motel was nearby a small forest, so that was good for a pleasant view.

I went to the tiny kitchen and started preparing 'dinner', despite my below-average cooking skills. It was pretty much just sandwiches and extra food the Hunters gave us.

"Chef di Angelo brings you his greatest meal," I said with half-hearted enthusiasm, approaching Isabella. "It is called, _en 'Sandwiches and leftovers'_."

Isabella just laughed. "Wow, very professional."

After our very exquisite and fancy meal, we were pretty much stuffed. Well, I'm always stuffed, but that's demigod life for you.

"Being a demigod is hard," Isabella said. "My life was already hard before all this but…"

"Yeah, it is hard," I sighed. We sat on her bed. "Not much you can do about it."

Isabella smiled sadly. "Before I met you, I never had any friends. I didn't know anyone at all, aside from my dad."

"Before I came to camp, I didn't know anyone either, aside from my sister," I admitted. "And even while I was at camp, I never felt at home there. I guess I had a few friends. Percy. Annabeth. Grover. But it wasn't really enough for me."

I had no idea why I was suddenly opening up so much, which I don't do often. Isabella just had some sort of strange, comforting aura that made you feel understood, accepted. And talkative, apparently.

"You deserved better," Isabella said. "Was your family nice?"

"... my dad isn't the world's greatest dad," I said, biting my lip. Now that was an uncomfortable topic. "And my step-mother hates my guts. I don't really remember my birth mother. My sister Hazel, is pretty nice though. I bet she'd like to meet you."

"She sounds nice," Isabella agreed. "My dad would've liked to meet you, too. He would've loved to know I had a real friend."

"Sounds like two were pretty close," I commented. "Wish I could say the same for my dad and I." I paused. "Well, I suppose he's gotten a _bit_ better, but still. Not a fun topic."

"I never met my godly parent," Isabella said. "My dad only said she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever met, my scarf was a present from her, and she loved me very much. He never talked about why she left."

"You'll find out, one day," I said. "Hopefully. The gods aren't always reliable."

"They don't seem like good parents." Isabella said, in a dark tone that strangely caught me off guard.

"They're not the best." I agreed, quietly. You've gotta be careful about bad-mouthing the gods. They're very sensitive, and when you insult them, they tend to blow stuff up.

"Nico," Isabella stared at me. She almost looked like she was going to cry.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Could… could you tell me a…" she looked slightly embarrassed. "A bedtime story? My dad used to do it and… it helped me sleep."

I raised my brow. "Well that's… not really something I do, normally," I admitted, blushing.

"Please?" Isabella asked me, making a puppy face.

"Well, there is a story my sister used to tell me a long time ago, when I was scared, sometimes…" I said, letting Isabella climb into bed. I sat next to her. "She used to tell it in Italian, so excuse me if I get off track and start speaking that language."

I sighed, and began telling the story.

" _C'era una_ \- excuse me - Once upon a time, there were two baby birds. They were completely dependent on their parents for survival. They were happy though. One day, their parents died, and the baby birds had to look after themselves. They were very scared, sad, but determined. With the help of some friends, other birds, and plenty more, they travelled across the world. Yes, sometimes the birds got really scared, but they survived, because they didn't give up. And one day, they grew up to be beautiful birds of paradise. The end."

I kind of realised I wasn't good at story-telling. Never have been, or I put some kind of negative twist on it.

Isabella smiled. "That was a nice story."

"Bianca always said it related to me and her." I commented, sadly. It was easy to see how. Except the story had a different ending. I lost my sister, and hung out at my creepy dad's a lot. But in a weird way, both had a _happy_ ending too…

Isabella leaned back into the bed. "It does, really. You're happy now."

"Happier." I corrected. I stood up. "Good night, Isabella."

"You can call me Bella, if you want," Isabella said. "My dad did."

"Alright," I said. "Good night, Bella."

* * *

Being a demigod, weird dreams a normality. But this one was different. In this dream, I wasn't myself. I was a young girl, who lived in a big house with my dad. (And I mean the girl's dad, not Hades). I was upset. School had gone horribly for me. No one wanted to talk to me or be my friend. Some people had tried to attack me. I didn't know why.

" _Hey, honey,_ " a kind voice said. It belonged to this dude with tanned skin, brown hair, and blue eyes. He kind of looked like a cross between Poseidon and Apollo. But to me, the young girl, he was my dad.

" _How was school?_ " he asked, smiling.

" _Bad,_ " I whimpered. " _I missed you, Daddy. And no one liked me._ "

" _People can be very stupid sometimes, Bella,_ " Dad said, giving me a hug. " _They just don't understand you_."

" _I wanna be normal._ " I sniffled.

" _You are normal,_" Dad insisted. " _You're an amazing kid, Bella. It doesn't matter what they say. You're special._ "

" _I wish I would die._ " I said, darkly.

" _Don't say that_ ," Dad said, suddenly harsh. The feelings radiated out of him like sonar waves, almost overwhelming me. " _I love you. Mommy loves you. And I bet there'll be so many other people out there who will love you. You deserve to live, Isabella, do you understand?_ "

I didn't reply. I just cried. Because I could sense his feelings. I could tell he was telling the truth.

...

The dream changed. Dad looked older. His eyes had bags underneath them. He didn't seem to get much sleep anymore. The feelings that surrounded him were worry, and guilt. Love was still there, but happiness wasn't as common.

" _Dad,_ " I said. " _Are you okay?_ "

" _Yeah…_ " he said. " _Just tired, Bella. Dad's been… busy with stuff recently._ "

 _Liar._ He was nervous about something. But what?

" _You're scared._ " I said.

" _You read me way too easily,_ " Dad laughed. " _Just like your mother. She could read me like a book._ " He sighed. " _Well… it's just… complicated._ "

" _Is it about the house?_ " I asked.

" _Oh no, no,_ " Dad shook his head. " _It's... about you, actually._ "

" _About me?_ " I asked, now confused. What was he talking about?

" _Don't worry about it,_ " Dad said, quickly. " _Just forget it._ "

The dream changed. I was in my little room. The windows had been locked. Downstairs, I could hear yelling. My dad. And someone else.

I crept out of my bedroom, sneaking down the stairs. The yelling got louder and louder. It was coming from Dad's bedroom. As I got closer, I could tell Dad was yelling at a lady. I put my ear to the door.

" _She can't avoid it forever, Nathan, you know that-_ "

" _She's a child! I'm not letting her leave!_ "

" _She'll have to leave whether you want her to or not. She's not like other demigods. She's-_ "

" _She's my daughter!_ "

" _She's my daughter too! I don't want her to suffer, just as much as you do. But this is by the oracle herself-_"

" _I don't give a damn what the oracle says!_ " There was a pause. " _God, sometimes I just wish Isabella could be a normal damn kid!_ "

" _Nathan!_ "

I ignored everything else. I ran away crying.

...

" _Isabella,_ " a frantic voice woke me up. It was Dad. " _Bella, get up._ "

" _What's wrong, Dad?_ " I asked, sitting up. My dad was pretty much spewing anxiety. I myself was almost trembling.

" _You have to get out of here_ ," Dad said, urgently. " _Run away._ "

" _What?_ " I asked. " _Why?_ "

" _It's really dangerous for you right now,_ " Dad said. " _Please, Bella, run! Get out of here!_ "

I heard something crash downstairs, and a roar that sounded inhuman. I screamed out.

Dad grabbed me and brought me downstairs. I saw monsters. Monsters all stopping and staring at me. There was destruction everywhere.

Dad put me down. " _Run!_ " He pointed to the outdoors.

" _Dad_ ," I frowned in concern. " _W-what about you?_ "

" _Don't worry about me!_ " he screamed. " _Just go, Isabella!_ "

He was almost in tears. His feelings were a burning rage mixed with fear.

Then he bent down and kissed my forehead. " _I love you, Bella. I love you so much_."

I grabbed his hand. I wanted him to come with me. It had always been just us. Him reading books to me because of my Dyslexia, him scaring off bullies, him giving me hugs whenever I felt down. He was always there for me. Even when I felt truly alone, he was _there_.

And now I had to say goodbye.

Dad smiled at me, tears in his eyes. " _You're very brave, Isabella. I know you'll do the right thing._ " He gently pushed me away. " _Now please, go!_ "

I came right back. " _I can't leave you, Daddy. I'll only go if you go._ "

" _Isabella-_ " My dad started, but was interrupted by a roar. I saw… a bull-like creature appear. Dad yelled out and pushed me away. The creature grabbed him.

" _RUN!_ " Dad screamed. I just stood there in utter shock. Tears built up behind my eyes. I backed up, and heard my dad scream out one last time.

And I finally listened to his last testament.

I ran and ran. I didn't stop running. I didn't know or care where I was going. I just wanted to get away.

Life didn't mean anything to me anymore. I didn't care. I just wanted to die.

My dad was gone. Nothing mattered.

I fainted somewhere. Cold. Bitter. I swear somewhere, I heard a voice calling out to me, but it didn't matter that much.

It was over for me.

 **...**

* * *

 **...**

Suddenly, I was back to Nico di Angelo. All those strange memories got mixed up in my head. My brain hurt. What was that about? Isabella?

My heart ached for her. She really had been lonely…

But I wondered why I'd had her memories for a dream. It was… kind of weird.

I walked through the world of dreams for a bit, and as always, crashed into the Hypnos cabin. No escaping there if you're going dream-travelling. It's pretty much Dream HQ.

I headed inside, and as usual, saw Clovis sleeping on the floor.

"Hey," I said.

"Hot chocolate…" he mumbled. His eyes lazily fluttered open. "Oh… hey, di Angelo… got any hot chocolate?"

"Nope," I replied. "I've got a bubblegum flavoured lollipop, though. I'll give it to you if you answer a question of mine."

"Deal," Clovis said, lumbering towards me. I pulled the lollipop out of my pocket and handed it to him. He lazily took the wrapping off. "What's your question?"

"So, as you should know, I'm on a quest right now with a girl," I said. "And… for some reason, I had a dream about her past."

"Huh…" Clovis looked thoughtful. "Let me look into that." He closed his eyes for a moment. "What's her name?"

"Isabella Johnson." I replied. Clovis nodded. He made a few expressions, some of which were probably concerning.

"Weird," he said, a little while later. "Is she asleep?"

"Um… yeah?" I replied, suddenly nervous.

"I can't find her dreams anywhere," Clovis said. "Either she's powerful enough to block me off, which usually only gods can do, or she's awake."

"Awake?" I gulped. Gods, I hoped she was just at the bathroom or something.

"In fact," Clovis said. "I don't think she's been asleep at all, today."

"Then… her memories…" I paled. "What was all that about?"

"I think she has some sort of magic bond to you," Clovis replied. "I'm not so good with magic bonds. I think you might have to deal with that yourself, di Angelo."

I sighed and nodded. "Time to wake up."

I woke up with a start, sweating. I looked at Isabella's bed, and she wasn't there. I knocked on the bathroom door, and got no response. I immediately started to panic.

This wasn't going to end well.


	10. Kidnapped

**A/N: I commissioned an artist named TwilaHolmes to draw a picture for this story, if you're reading this on Wattpad or Quotev you can see it on chapter 3, if not, feel free to view it by following the link.** **sta. sh /06 hb9 0csy58**

 **Twila is an awesome artist so if you have deviantART I recommend watching her! She has Tumblr too**

 **Anyway on with the chapter!**

* * *

"Isabella?" I called out, walking around the motel. No one responded. I wasn't speaking overly loudly though, because waking mortals wasn't going to help me in any way.

"Isabella?" I called out once again. I summoned some undead warriors, and sent them to look for my friend. Meanwhile, I crept a little further away from the motel, still calling her name. No response.

 _Gods, Nico,_ I thought. _You can't even watch a kid for an entire night!_

I was even looking inside other people's rooms. It was pretty embarrassing, but I was getting desperate. I was pretty relieved when I saw one of my undead soldiers approaching.

"Did you find her?" I asked.

The skeleton guard probably would've looked worried if it could.

 _Yes, lord_ , its voice hissed in my head. _She is in a cemetery._

"A _cemetery_?" I frowned. "Why would she be…" I sighed. "You know what, just lead me to this cemetery in question."

* * *

We got to the cemetery. Like most cemeteries it was long and dark and full of tombstones. And the dead calling out to me. It was slightly annoying when you were trying to look for a child.

I looked around, but couldn't see Isabella anywhere. I gripped my sword, just in case things got messy. I gritted my teeth, a faint breeze blowing through my hair. The sky was midnight black, stars twinkling like little diamonds. How's that for 'descriptive writing'? No? Whatever.

Anyway, I continued following my skeleton friends, until they stopped at a open grave. I saw bags of McDonald's on the side, and a few chicken McNuggets sprawled across the ground. No Isabella, though.

 _Weird_ , I thought. _Pretty sure I've never been here before…_

"So… where is she?" I asked.

 _She was here_ , a skeleton replied.

" _Was_ here," I frowned. "Why? And where is she now?"

 _I believe she was trying to summon someone_ , the skeleton said. _From the dead._

I scowled. "Seriously? But she can't…" I wanted to slap someone. Did she _really_ think she could summon the dead? Why would she even try?

I had a feeling this had something to do with her dad.

"Do you know where she is now?" I asked again.

 _She was kidnapped_ , the skeleton replied. _By two Cyclopes._

"Wonderful," I grumbled sarcastically, though internally I was freaking out. "And where did they take her?"

 _I believe they said something about the Golden Gate Bridge…_ the skeleton said, shrugging. Yep, skeletons do that.

I sighed. "Welp, looks like we're going to San Francisco a little early."

* * *

I packed everything into the bag. I noticed we had less money than before, which meant Isabella must've used it to buy the McDonald's. You can probably tell I wasn't in the mood to be skipping through a field of daisies. (Though I'd never be in the mood to do that, I _hate_ flowers.) Now I knew why she was asking those questions about death.

"The little-" I cut myself off. San Francisco was far away, and I was gonna have to shadow travel there. I had a bottle of Gatorade prepared. I clambered into the nearest shadow, and arrived at San Francisco. Despite being the middle of the night, there were still cars driving and people walking around. The Golden Gate Bridge was up ahead, looking all shiny and cool.

I was in an alleyway. After skulling a whole bottle of Gatorade (while half asleep!), I slipped through the shadows, like a ninja. I couldn't see any monsters… yet. I saw plenty of drunk mortals though. Fun times for everybody.

After almost crashing into a feral cat, I noticed two figures in the distance. Two definitely non-human figures. I raced towards them, while still slipping through the shadows. As I got closer, I could tell they were monsters. They were standing next to a fruit truck.

One of the Cyclopes put something that looked like a cage into the truck. Then they both climbed in. The truck began moving forward, heading towards the bridge. I frowned. No way I was going to be able to catch up to them. If I shadow-travelled again I would've passed out. Even now I was still drowsy.

Then I remembered I had a zombie chauffeur. Gift from my dad, long story.

I summoned Jules-Albert. He rocked up with a limousine, naturally.

"Good evening, _monsieur_ ," he said. Did I mention he's French?

"Hey," I said. "How do you feel about participating in a car- well, truck - chase with me?"

That zombie sent shivers down my spine with that smile. "I would very much enjoy that."


	11. I get into a car chase with a zombie

**A/N: I'm not sure if the chauffeur calls Nico 'monsieur' in the books but I'm putting it here anyway**

* * *

I'm not one of those people who has a 'to-do' list. But if I did, 'getting into a car chase with a zombie' would be ticked off.

Jules-Albert put on some French opera music while I eyed the fruit van. It was turning onto the famous Golden Gate bridge, and so our limousine sped up. I stuck my head out of the window, like a dog's. My dyslexia was acting up, so I couldn't read what was written on the truck. All I saw were pictures of tropical fruit.

The view from the bridge was pretty nice. All the lights were lit up, so it looked like we were driving on fire. Pretty fire, not Leo-crazy fire. If we weren't in the middle of a quest, I would've spent more time gazing over the water.

"Monsieur," my chauffeur's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. "We're next to the van."

He was right. Now we were next to the van, and I could almost make out the words. Well, not really. I sat up, gripping my sword.

"Stay here," I said. "I'll be back."

And I shadow-travelled into the van.

I landed on a pile of oranges. I could tell by the smell, and the fact that I'd pierced a few of them with my sword. I stood up, my jacket now smelling like freshly squeezed orange juice. It was quite dark in there, but thankfully, the darkness is my birthright. In other words, I can get through it pretty easily. I crept forward, faintly seeing the silhouettes of two Cyclopes. They were looking around in confusion, unaware that they smelled like smoothies and stuck out like a pair of sore thumbs. Unlike Percy's Cyclops brother Tyson, they didn't look very friendly.

Between them was a cage. And in that cage, of course, was Isabella. I frowned.

"Orange juice," one of the Cyclopes said, sniffing the air. That gave me an idea. The smell of fruit could cover up my scent…

I used my sword to cut up pieces of oranges and other fruit, and then, the fun part, drenched myself in them. It was like having the world's fruitiest shower. (It wasn't as fun as it sounds, I got orange juice in my eye.) Now I smelled like fruit salad.

Wiping orange juice off my face, I stalked towards the Cyclopes once again. I held out my sword, which also smelled like fruit. The Cyclopes didn't suspect a thing, as planned. But Isabella saw me. She stared at me with relief.

"I'm hungry," one of the Cyclopes said. "I'm sick of fruit."

I was right behind the Cyclops on the left.

"We don't have anything else, stupid," the other grunted. "Just fruit."

And that's when I struck.

I stabbed one of the Cyclopes in the back, causing him to fall over while screaming. He turned to gold dust.

"Jeremy!" the other Cyclops screamed. He glared at me. "That was my boyfriend!"

That kind of caught me off-guard. The Cyclops suddenly rammed forward and punched me in the chest. I landed into a box full of passionfruit. At least it wasn't pomegranates.

"Nico!" Isabella called out in concern.

"You know him?" the Cyclops asked her.

"Yes, she does," I stood up, wiping passionfruit off my arm. "And you shouldn't have taken her."

"You don't know what's going on here!" the Cyclops replied. "We have good reasons!"

"You probably don't," I said, pointing my sword towards him. "If you let her go and let us leave peacefully, maybe I'll spare you."

"NEVER!" the Cyclops screamed. "YOU WILL DIE FOR KILLING JEREMY!"

He raced towards me again. I jumped out of the way; he crashed into some pineapples. The whole van shook from the impact. He roared in anger. And then I got another idea.

I raced over to the crate full of oranges and grabbed one. I tore it open, getting my hand covered in juice. Biting my lip, I gazed back at the Cyclops. This wasn't going to be pretty for him.

"DIE!" the cyclops roared, running towards me. I jumped out of the way, then clambered onto his back as tightly as it could. I'm pretty sure that's what it feels like to be on a wild horse. Gripping the orange tightly, I squeezed the juice into his eye. He screamed in pain. He fell to his knees, clutching his entire head. I winced. I knew what that felt like. I ran over to Isabella, who was watching the whole thing with wide eyes.

"Ouch," she said.

"Yeah," I agreed. I offered my hand through the bars. "Grab on. I'll shadow travel us out of here."

Isabella grabbed my hand.

"YOU WON'T ESCAPE!" the cyclops screamed. He ran over to me, and suddenly picked me up by the scruff of my neck. Seriously, why does that keep happening?

"Nico!" Isabella cried. She held out her whip, and slung it through the bars. It wrapped around the Cyclops' foot. I jabbed the heel of my boot into the Cyclops' chest, while Isabella pulled her whip. The Cyclops fell over with a shout.

"Nice work," I told Isabella. I ran over to her again. "Let's get out of here."

"What about the driver of this van?" she asked.

"What about them?"

"What if Patrick hurts them?"

"Patrick…?"

"The Cyclops."

"Not much we can do about that," I sighed. "Sorry, kid. We need to go."

Isabella sighed and held out her hand. I grabbed onto it; we shadow-travelled out of the van. We landed back in Jules-Albert's car. Isabella was sitting in the back, while I was in the front. The French opera music was on full-blast.

"Who's that?!" Isabella asked, staring at Jules-Albert with wide eyes.

"My zombie chauffeur." I replied.

"You have a zombie chauffeur?!"

"Let's just say Hades is an… interesting father."

"Pleased to meet you too, madame." Jules-Albert interrupted, shooting me a withering (get it, because he's a zombie? Forget it, I'm not funny) look.

"Hi Mr. Nico's Zombie Chauffeur!" Isabella said, waving at him.

"Just call him Jules-Albert," I sighed. I whispered, "He won't be here too long, don't worry."

"I may be dead, but I can still hear you, Monsieur." Jules-Albert told me, slightly annoyed.

"Why didn't we use this guy to travel around at the start?" Isabella asked, logically. "We could've avoided a whole bunch of stuff."

"Because, firstly, quests suck," I answered. "Secondly, trust me, you _don't_ want to listen to French Opera for ten hours."

"Hmph." Jules-Albert turned away from me.

Isabella just laughed. Then I remembered this whole ordeal was kind of her fault.

"I don't know why you're laughing," I grumbled. "You're the _whole reason_ we're here."

Isabella stopped laughing after that.

"Do you even know how crazy you are?" I growled. "You could've-"

I was interrupted by a loud honk. It belonged to a certain fruit van, which now had Patrick the Cyclops sitting in the driver's seat. He drew his finger across his neck.

"I told you we should've looked after the driver…" Isabella commented.

"Jules-Albert," I turned to my chauffeur. "Step on it."

And that he did. The car sped up, and suddenly we were definitely breaking the law. We drove around other cars. Jules-Albert was emotionless, good for him, I guess. A positive side of having a zombie chauffeur is they don't get scared. As for me, I wasn't having such a good time. Probably because Patrick kept holding up a knife.

"Anywhere you'd like to go in particular, Monsieur?" Jules-Albert asked me.

"Far away from that van," I said, pointing at the fruit van. "The further, the better."

Jules-Albert kept swerving around cars, doing a few wheelies on the way. We were now off the bridge and headed into another area full of city. Lights appeared in and out of my peripheral vision. The fruit van was still after us. I really had no idea how a Cyclops knew how to drive.

"Whoohoo!" Isabella cheered. "This is awesome!"

"This is not awesome," I snapped. "We're being chased by a Cyclops in a fruit van! How is that awesome?"

"It's exciting!" Isabella retorted. "It's like going a rollercoaster!"

I decided not to respond to that. The good news was, we were starting to loose the fruit van behind a few more cars.

"We're doing okay," I sighed. "Good job, Jules."

"I don't mean to alert you, Monsieur, but…" Jules-Albert pointed to the mirror outside the car. In its reflection I could see…

"Oh great," I sighed. "The police. That's just what we need."

About five police cars were now hot on our trail, sirens blaring. Like I said before, mortals aren't really dangerous, it's just whenever they get involved things get… messy.

"I thought the mist or whatever covered mortals' vision," Isabella said.

"It wouldn't cover this car," I replied. "Since it isn't exactly _abnormal_."

"Oh," Isabella said. "Well, mortals are harmless, right?"

"Mostly," I replied. "They have a tendency to make situations pretty messy, though. Better to just try and leave them out of stuff if you can."

Isabella nodded, understandingly.

"There are more ahead," Jules-Albert said, almost sounding anxious. And if the undead guy was scared, that was not a good sign.

I frowned. I stared at my chauffeur, and immediately felt a pang of sadness. I had another plan, but it wasn't a great one.

"Bella and I can't afford to get arrested," I said. "I'm gonna have to shadow-travel us out of this car. Jules… that means…"

"I understand, young Monsieur," Jules-Albert said. "I can handle the mortals."

I smiled with as much effort as I could. "Thanks."

"Wait, he's going to get arrested?!" Isabella asked.

I turned back to face her. "Unfortunately." I held out my hand. "We're going to get out of here."

Isabella hesitated. More police cars surrounded us. It wasn't going to be easy to move soon.

"Come on," I said, biting my lip. "We've gotta go."

Isabella grabbed my hand. We disappeared into the shadows. And her face was the last thing I saw until I passed out.


	12. A crazy goddess gives us a quest

_Hey Nico_ , you might be thinking. _You really pass out a lot._

Yeah, but only when I shadow-travel. That stuff is tiring. Also, I like sleeping. Aside from when I have nightmares, of course. Not something that helps with a good night's sleep.

One of the fun things about passing out on quests is you never know where or who you're going to wake up with. In this case, I woke up in a campsite with the world's most beautiful ten year old. I was wearing a light grey sweatshirt with gold around the sleeves, which was a shirt I definitely did not own. I was also wearing light grey, matching trousers. I was sitting on a black sleeping bag, while Isabella was sitting on one of those portable chairs, sipping something out of a thermos. We were in the middle of a forest. How we got there, I have no clue.

"Hi," Isabella said, looking at me.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Um, I'm not actually sure," Isabella replied. "We pretty much showed up here, when you did that, um, shadowy-thing. You passed out… and, like ten minutes later, this lady with wings showed up. She made this campsite appear, and said she had something important for us to do, as soon as you woke up. Then she left, and… this is where we've been ever since."

"A lady with wings?" I asked. "What else did she look like?"

"Well, she had a spear, I think," Isabella said. "And she looked like she'd been drinking coffee for ten hours straight…"

I had a pretty good guess of who it was.

"Nike," I said. "Goddess of Victory."

With that, the goddess herself appeared. She, like Isabella said, was wielding a golden spear. A wreath was upon her plaited brown hair, and she was wearing a long, white toga. A pair of golden wings was on her back. Again, like Isabella said, she looked like she'd had way too much caffeine.

"M'lady," I bowed. I nudged Isabella, getting her to do the same thing.

"So you've woken," Nike said, very loudly, like she'd never heard of the concept of an inside voice. She turned to Isabella. "Did you like my sports drink?"

"Yeah, I guess," Isabella said, glancing at her thermos. "These shoes are nice, too, I suppose…"

I hadn't realised she was wearing new shoes. I wasn't surprised when I saw they were Nike-brand shoes. And I was somehow less surprised when I noticed I was wearing Nike shoes as well.

"Of course," Nike smiled proudly. "I make only the best shoes. Much better than Hermes'." She scoffed. Already she was reminding me of Laurel and Holly Victor, her daughters at camp. They were very competitive. And I mean _very, very_ competitive. Sometimes, they were even scarier than me, and that's no easy feat.

"Excuse me," I interrupted. "Lady Nike, why are you here?"

"Your quest intrigues me, young demigod," Nike said. "As well as you. You have had many victories, have you not?"

I didn't know what to say to that. Gods, I was awful at accepting compliments. Probably because I wasn't used to it.

"I will offer you a gift if you help me with a favour," Nike said. "A gift I believe you will find very useful."

"A favour," I repeated.

"Indeed," Nike replied. "My Wings of Victory have been stolen by a group of rebellious monsters." She angrily scrunched up a thermos in her bare fist and threw it at a tree. I gripped the hilt of my sword in fright.

"But you're wearing them." Isabella said, kind of reading my mind.

"These are my backup ones," Nike said, shaking her head. "Nothing like the original."

 _Because that makes sense_ , I thought. If only the other gods had backup weapons.

"So, let me guess," I said. "You want us to find your wings?"

"Close," Nike replied. "Yes, I want you to find my wings. But I also want you to take a guest along for your quest."

I glanced at Isabella. Suddenly I realised how angry I was at her. I held it back, because I wasn't going to yell at a kid in front of a goddess.

"A guest," I said, my tone suddenly dry. "Who?"

"My demigod daughter," the goddess replied. "Her name is Penelope Sokolov. She does not like that Half-Blood camp, and… well, generally being around people."

"Sounds like we'll get on great." I muttered. Isabella just frowned at me.

"However, she is very determined," Nike said, shooting me a slight glare. "And wants a chance to prove herself. As entertaining as it is to see her beat up homeless people, I believe it would be better if she did something more… productive." She looked away, awkwardly, reminding me of my dad, weirdly.

"So, you want me to take your daughter on a quest with us." I said.

"That's the jist of it," Nike replied. "And, if you could convince her to go to the Half-Blood camp, that would be wonderful, too."

 _Sounds like Penelope's got issues,_ I thought. _Can't blame her._

"What about her mortal family?" Isabella asked. "Are they dead, too?"

I shot her a look, like, _you can't just ask about people's mortal families!_

"Her father lives in Russia," Nike replied. "She… ran away."

"More like she flew away," Isabella commented. "You can't run from Russia to here. That's dumb."

"Isabella." I grumbled. She blushed and looked at her shoes.

"She will help you find my wings," Nike said, as if she hadn't heard Isabella. "You will need her."

"Where is she?" I asked.

Nike pointed East. "Head that way, until you see a large street. She will be near a cafe with a bright red roof, and lots of dandelions surrounding it. It won't be hard to miss."

"Yuck," Isabella cringed. "I hate dandelions."

The stupid ADHD part of my brain wondered why.

"Cafe with a red roof and dandelions," I said. "Got it. Is that all?"

"Meet me by the central square's fountain by evening with the wings," Nike said. "You will know where it is."

Then she disappeared.

"So," I said, turning to Isabella. "Why do you hate dandelions?"

"Allergies," Isabella replied. "Last time I touched a dandelion I had to go to hospital."

"Ouch," I winced. "Let's keep away from the dandelions, then."

Isabella chuckled lightly, then started frowning.

"Sorry, Nico," she said, sighing sadly. "Sorry about… getting… kidnapped. And trying to summon my dad from the dead. And other stupid things."

"Look, just don't do it again," I said, crossing my arms like some kind of parent. "If you die, I'm dead too. Whoever your godly parent is will kill me. And then all the Olympians will too."

"Wait…" Isabella stared at me. "If I kill you, will your dad kill me?"

"Well," I frowned. "He won't like you very much, that's for sure. You won't have a happy afterlife. I mean, if you want to decrease your life expectancy by about 10000%, you're welcome to try."

"You said try," Isabella said.

"Yeah," I replied, almost smirking. "Murder isn't as easy as it looks."

"You're creepy." Isabella said, flinching.

"I get that a lot," I said. "Don't worry, I'm not a psychotic killer. I just hang around with dead people and my overprotective boyfriend."

Isabella just laughed at that. That made me feel… a bit better, despite everything.

I only hoped the girl we were going to meet was… tolerable.


	13. Into the sewer!

She wasn't tolerable. Even if Isabella hadn't been giving her a sort of wary look, I would've had my suspicions from the way she was standing there.

Penelope Sokolov was leaning against the cafe with the red roof and dandelions. She stood there with a sneer on her face, immediately reminding me of Octavian. And her mother and half-siblings, of course. She was definitely taller than me, and _definitely_ taller than a few of my friends. She had long, brown hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a brown, leather bomber jacket with silver on her collar, forearms and on her zipper. That jacket looked expensive, and considering she was homeless, I had a bad feeling about where she might've got it from.

She was also wearing a pair of Nike pants (of course) and shoes. In her left hand was a long, silver spear with rings of gold.

"I'm not sure about this…" Isabella muttered.

"We can't defy a goddess, kid." I sighed. We walked up to Penelope, she immediately glowered at us. I resisted the urge to glower back.

"Hi," I said, politely as I could. "I'm Nico, and this is Isabella. Your mom wants us to go on a quest with you to find her Wings of Victory."

"I know," Penelope replied, way louder than I expected (and I wasn't expecting much). Her accent was a mix of Russian and American. "My mother told me all about it."

"Great," I said, trying not to sound sarcastic. "She also said you'd know where the wings are."

"Of course I know where they are," Penelope snapped. " _I'm_ going to be the one to retrieve them!"

"What... about us?" Isabella asked.

"The boy can watch," Penelope said, glaring at me. I glared back. What was her problem? Her expression softened when she turned to Isabella. "And I'll give you a piggyback, because you're so cute!"

Isabella blushed as Penelope pinched her cheeks.

"How about you go on this quest by yourself, then?" I snapped. I pulled Isabella away from Penelope. "If you're so confident in yourself."

"Oh no," Penelope shook her head. "My mother requested that you come with me. But! I'll prove to her that I _don't_ need you to come. You'll just sit there and watch, while I get those wings!"

I frowned. "That's not how quests work. If you go by yourself-"

"You think because you're a child of the Big Three you can boss me around?" Penelope interrupted. "I don't need your input, Nero!"

"Nico." I corrected, clenching my fists.

"Whatever!" Penelope grumbled. "This is _my_ quest! I'm Nike's daughter! I'm the one who's supposed to get those wings!"

I was _really_ starting to get annoyed now. I dug my nails into my skin, until I could feel blood. Isabella was looking at me with concern.

"Um…" she spoke up. "I think quests are meant to be about teamwork…"

"I don't care," Penelope growled. She softened her tone. "Look, Isabella, I'm not like other demigods. I don't waste time messing around. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself."

 _Oh, you're real special, aren't you?_ I thought bitterly. Though, I didn't _completely_ disagree with her. People got on my nerves all the time. And yeah, sometimes things got done faster if I did them alone.

"Quests are different," I said. "You need people with you. If you die, who's gonna continue the quest?"

"I'm not going to die," Penelope said.

"You don't know that." I replied, frowning.

"I'm _not_." Penelope insisted. I decided it was pointless to argue anymore. I was annoyed enough as it is. Bones were already starting to appear at my feet. Good things don't happen when I'm angry.

"So," Isabella spoke up quickly. "Where are the wings?"

"Follow me." Penelope said, holding up her head. She walked off quickly, holding out her spear, like she wanted to stab the people passing by. She grabbed Isabella's hand, and began talking to her about stuff. Probably nothing complimentary about me. I sulked behind, trying not to start the zombie apocalypse. Well, at least I didn't smell like a fruit smoothie anymore.

* * *

We walked for a while. We went past lots of buildings, and that fountain Nike wanted us to deliver her wings to. Penelope was still with Isabella, ruffling her hair like they were sisters. I don't know why but for some reason it was bothering me more than Penelope insulting me to my face.

Occasionally, a monster would walk by, and Penelope would show off by screaming and stabbing it with her spear. She'd then smile at all the mortals and proclaim that she'd saved them, even though they looked very confused. I was _very_ tempted to drown myself in that stupid fountain.

Eventually, we made it to a crumbly-looking staircase, which led into a dark and creepy train station. I'd actually like it if it didn't smell like someone had pissed all over the floor. It reminded me of the stables at the Triple G Ranch, which is definitely not on my list of Top 5 Holiday Destinations. Even Penelope looked disgusted.

"Still determined to get those wings?" I asked.

"I will knock your %$$£& out!" Penelope growled. Chiron asked me to remove what she said there, as he deemed it 'inappropriate'. Sure, we can have violence but swearing? No way, there might be kids reading!

"Do you have anger issues or something?" I snapped, 110% done with this girl. "I've done nothing to you, and you hate me!"

"I don't have anger issues, you-" Penelope replied with a series of pretty bad words that reminded me of Sisyphus. "Just… stay out of my way!"

The ground rumbled as I clenched my fists again. Some of the things she said weren't... well, very nice.

"Guys," Isabella cried. "Come on, don't fight! There's no need for this!"

"So I should just let her keep insulting me?" I asked, bitterly.

"No!" Isabella replied. "I mean…" She looked at Penelope. "Be nice to each other, or we'll never complete this quest."

"That's another thing I don't get," I glared at Penelope. "Why are you nice to Isabella and not me?"

"Nico," Isabella said, and immediately I felt guilty. This girl was too good at playing with emotions.

"Fine," I sighed. "Let's go and find those wings."

* * *

We ventured into the stinky train station, which smelled even worse once we were in there. There wasn't much light, aside from a few half-working lightbulbs. The floor was covered in a wet substance which I didn't want to know much about, and I spotted a few rats running around in the darkness. The walls were filthy as well. I touched one and it left a black smudge on my fingers. I didn't touch the walls again after that.

Penelope stormed forward, though occasionally she'd shake off the gross stuff on her boots. Isabella stayed near me, clinging onto my jacket.

"Sorry about her," she whispered. "She's not as bad as you think she is. She ran away from her home in Russia because her father tried to force to join some group with some other demigods. It didn't work out very well, and she got really distressed and upset. She prayed to her mom for help, and got out of Russia. Since then, she hasn't got on well with demigods… or anyone, really."

"Aside from you?" I asked.

"I could feel the distress and anguish coming off her," Isabella said, quietly. "I couldn't turn away. She wasn't… so bad. I could tell."

"You're really good at this reading emotions thing, aren't you?" I asked. "You're like a mind reader, or something."

"My dad said my mom was like that, too," Isabella commented, sadly. "She was the most understanding person he'd ever met. Maybe a little _too_ understanding."

"I second that," I muttered. It gave me no clues about who my young friend's godly parent was. She sounded too nice to be Aphrodite…

"Come on, slow pokes," Penelope snapped. "Or I'll leave you behind!"

I glanced at Isabella one more time. We nodded at each other, and ran ahead to catch up with Penelope.

"In here," the tall girl said, pointing to an open door. It lead into what looked like a sewer. Smelled like one too. Fun, right?

"Great," I muttered.

Penelope climbed in, though not without looking like she wanted to gag. "Hurry up!"'

I sighed. This wasn't a very fun quest.

Following after her, Isabella and I plunged into the disgusting sewer.


	14. Everything stinks, especially giants

**Hey everyone! I've just started writing another PJO fanfic. It's about if Thalia was never a pine tree. If you're interested, it's called Thalia Grace and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief'. It's probably better than this fanfic lmao**

 **Also I have a deviantART iHateFridays, where I post fanart for this story and other stories. I have Tumblr too, fridayhater. That's all, happy reading! UwU**

* * *

...

You don't need Athena's smarts to figure out that crawling through a sewer wasn't fun at all.

I mean, my clothes got dirty for the third time on this stupid quest. First from a monster fight, then on a fruit van, and now in a stupid sewer. Demigods needed more laundromats around. Or, a god of laundries. That would be helpful. I kind of wish the Greeks had put a little more thought into what there should and shouldn't be gods of.

Penelope, who was somewhat ahead, kept grumbling about things. Probably about me, because I caught my name, and the word 'idiot' a few times.

"I can hear you." I said.

"Whatever!" She replied, though she sounded embarrassed.

"Can you, uh, slow down a bit as well?" I added. "Not everyone likes running through sewers as much as you do."

I think I heard Penelope facepalm. Isabella snorted.

After wiping some pretty gross stuff off my shoes, we came to this big tunnel. It lead into more darkness and bad smells. Penelope was looking around, confusion on her face.

"Well?" I asked.

"Nothing," she growled. "I just… um, I just need to think about where I'm going."

"You're lost." Isabella said.

"I'm not!" Penelope snapped.

"I'm gonna go with Isabella on this one," I said. "You're lost."

"I'm _not_ lost!" Penelope repeated.

"Then why are you standing around?" I asked.

"Because-" Penelope began, but then she was interrupted by a roar. I heard something breathing heavily, making the disgusting sewer water ripple beneath us. The ground started to rumble a little bit.

Penelope held up her spear. I got out my sword, while Isabella got out her whip. The sound got louder and louder. We braced ourselves.

It turned out to be…

... a mortal.

"What're y'all staring at me like that for?" the guy asked, scratching his head.

"What're _you_ doing down in a sewer?" Penelope replied.

The guy was about to answer, when suddenly a giant appeared. Well, giants, actually. An army of Laistrygonian (what a mouthful) giants. They were all pretty tall, no surprises there, muscular, and pretty ugly.

"They look some mortals I knew at school…" Isabella muttered. Honestly I couldn't disagree. Back at Westover, there had been some... interesting kids.

"Aiieeee who're all these?!" the mortal guy freaked out, before fainting.

"DEMIGODS!" the leader of the giants boomed. "So you've come for the wings?"

Penelope scowled. "Yes," she growled. "You better hand them over before this gets ugly."

The giants all boomed with laughter. Penelope looked even more ticked off.

"You think this is a joke, you fat-" she called them a bunch of rude names. "I will crush your skulls and dance on your corpses!"

The giants stopped laughing and all raced towards her. She held up her spear and ran right back at them, screaming. I sighed and shadow-travelled, appearing behind the giants. I summoned a few skeletons, who distracted the giants while Penelope was sparring. Teamwork chivalry.

Isabella got out her whip, and wrapped it around a giant's foot. He yelped and fell into a bunch of other giants. Meanwhile, Penelope had successfully managed to stab one of the giants. She cheered, coated in gold dust.

I sliced my sword across a giant's chest, killing him. Some undead soldiers and I ganged up on another giant, and took him down as well.

"You laughed at us, but you underestimated the power of victory!" Penelope yelled. "The strength of victory will _never_ let you bring me down!"

I decided not to mention that she would've been dead if Isabella and I didn't pitch in, because she wouldn't have listened anyway.

The injured giants growled.

"You really think so, demigod?" one of them asked smugly. "It's not going to be _that_ easy."

More giants began appearing. Bigger ones, with some intimidating-looking weapons. The tunnel was almost full of them. Penelope flinched.

"She's nervous…" Isabella muttered, staying behind me.

"Not surprised," I muttered back.

"O-oh yeah, I can take a lot more than that!" Penelope yelled, holding out her spear.

"Penelope," I warned. "You can't. Come back here."

"Shut up," Penelope yelled back at me. "You-" She called me a pretty bad name.

The giants _oohed_ and _awwed_. I wasn't so happy.

"Gods," I snapped, bones appearing at my feet. My eyes felt droopy, but I kept my head up. "Look, you can't-"

Penelope yelled and charged the giants. Immediately, a group of them grabbed her and held her against the wall.

"Hey!" she bellowed. "Let me go!"

The giants began to drag her away. Meanwhile, _another_ group of them began fighting Isabella and I. Isabella did the ankle-thing again with her whip, making the whole battle look like dominos. While it was great, it didn't help that some of the sewer water splashed on me.

I threw up a little bit.

"You okay?" Isabella asked, holding out her hand.

"Gods," I groaned. "I _hate_ this sewer."

I let her help me up. I shook my head, feeling dizzy. I accepted some of the nectar she gave me.

"If we weren't on a quest," I admitted, "I'd leave Penelope to rot."

"Nico!" Isabella glared at me.

"I know," I sighed. "It's just… look, I wouldn't _really_ leave her to rot. I wouldn't be able to get the guilt off my conscience."

 _Why did I say that?_ I thought. _Isabella's emotional manipulation... bleh._

"Of course," Isabella said, with a little smile. "Let's go after her."

* * *

We went the way the monsters had. It got darker and smellier, but thankfully I can manipulate darkness pretty well.

"Nico, look," Isabella said, as we trudged through some sludge. "It's her spear."

It was covered in the gross sludge. I grabbed it, and slung it over my shoulder (even more gross). Well, she wasn't dead. Yet.

"She's near," I said. "A little further, now."

I'll admit, I had some false hope. We kept going, but came to a dead end. No, it's not a pun. (No, Percy, death puns _aren't_ funny. Seriously. Stop laughing.)

"Great," I sighed. "Where now?"

We looked around a little more, but didn't find anything.

"Maybe there's a trap door, somewhere," Isabella said. She began pressing all the bricks, without throwing up (they were _filthy_ ). "Nothing here…"

I turned to the wall straight ahead, and stared at it for a while. I'm pretty sure I noticed something funky on there. I reached forward and grabbed it.

"Wait, Nico-" Isabella turned to me, but too late. Everything had disappeared.

* * *

 _..._

 _"You were right, Nico… we were lost…"_

 _"Are you there…? Hey, I like your skull ring…"_

 _"You're not dead, are you?"_

"Shut up…" I muttered, sitting up. But strangely, there was no one there. I was sitting in a cell of some kind. Outside was just a lot of dark, gross-looking water. I smelled awful. Still. Then I saw Penelope, sitting there.

"Huh?" I asked. "What's happening?"

"Hey," she said. "Nice to see you awake." Her tone seemed kinder, than usual. I wasn't sure why she was suddenly being so nice. Isabella's weird influence?

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Kidnapped by giants," Penelope replied, looking down. Guiltily.

"Where's Isabella?" I asked.

Penelope looked down. I could've been mistaken, but her eyes were glistening with tears.

"She's dead."


	15. Rescue mission

I sat up, my throat tight. "No she's not."

"She has to be," Penelope said, frantic. "She-"

"She's not dead," I insisted. "Trust me, I'd know."

"Right," Penelope said, frowning. "You're a son of Hades. I should've guessed." She looked away, sadly. I almost felt bad. But then I remembered the type of person she was.

"You're acting different," I said.

"Maybe it's because I thought I killed someone." Penelope said. Her eyes widened. "I mean- I don't think I'm a _murderer_ or anything, what I mean is… I thought I let Isabella die. And… that kind of hit me hard."

"I thought you didn't like people." I said.

"Maybe I was wrong," Penelope said, sadly. "Maybe I was _wrong_ to hate."

She had a point.

"You've really come around," I said, after a while. "Also, glad you like my ring."

Penelope looked uncomfortable. "You heard me?"

"Yep," I said. "Do you say that to all people who are dying?"

Penelope just stared at me. "You're stupid."

"I thought you were being nice," I said, raising an eyebrow.

"I am," Penelope said, crossing her arms.

"You've got an interesting definition of 'nice'." I deadpanned. Penelope glared at me. The stare reminded me of her mother. She was intense, and wouldn't let anything get in her way. But she had a softer side that it seemed only mortals had, too. Mortals are more likely to change their ways than gods, after all.

"Sorry," she said. "I'm not that used to trusting people, either."

"That's something we have in common," I said. "Took me a while to start trusting people after my sister died."

Penelope frowned, a somber look in her eyes. "I know that feeling. My father…"

"Tried to get you to join some group with other demigods, right?" I asked.

Penelope scowled. "How did you know that?"

"Isabella told me."

"I told her to keep that a secret," Penelope gritted her teeth.

"Maybe she told me so I'd feel sympathy for you, or something," I shrugged. "She's like that. She wants everyone to get along."

"Hmph," Penelope said. She sighed, her face creasing up. "Yes, my father made me do things like that. These demigods were unkind, and my dad wouldn't hear me out when I told him I didn't want to associate with them anymore. He was like my mom. He loved victory. He wanted me to become a warrior. When it got too much, I prayed to my mother, begging for help. She refused for a while, so I ran away of my own accord, and eventually, on the term that I would achieve victory in some way, she led me to America."

"That explains a lot," I said. "I guess you're taking this as a chance to prove yourself."

"Yes," Penelope nodded. "Maybe that's why I was so… rude?"

I nodded.

"Rude," Penelope repeated the word, like it was an exotic fruit. "Well, you can't say I'm not justified, right?"

"You can't kill someone and say it was justified just because you were mad." I pointed out.

"You're stupid." Penelope grumbled.

"No," I smirked. "I'm correct."

"Okay," Penelope frowned. "You're a smart aleck."

I rolled my eyes. "We could bicker all day, but I think we have better things to do." I stood up, leaning against the wall of the cell. It reminded me of the Underworld, but a lot smellier. And quieter. "We need to find Isabella, and your mom's wings."

"And break out of here." Penelope added.

"No need to break out," I said. "We can shadow-travel."

"What?" Penelope asked, tilting her head.

I smirked. "You'll see."

* * *

I really wished sewers didn't have to smell so bad. The floor was like the world's most disgusting (and also biggest) puddle, and the walls were covered in grime. At least it was dark.

"Could you stop disappearing?" Penelope asked me, irritability. "Not all of us can snoop around in shadows."

"Maybe if you were quieter, it'd be a good start." I replied, shaking disgusting stuff off my now-filthy Nike runners.

"I'm the demigoddess of VICTORY, not the demigoddess of being quiet." Penelope snapped.

"I noticed," I rolled my eyes. I heard something grunting and squelching through mud in the distance. I put my finger to my lips, and dragged Penelope into the shadows. The stomping got louder, then disappeared.

"One good thing about this bad smell," I muttered, "is that it makes it a lot harder for monsters to smell us."

"I think I'd rather fight a monster than smell like a toilet seat." Penelope muttered back.

"You should probably fix your priorities," I replied. "Fighting monsters can get you killed."

"No," Penelope shook her head, "Monsters fighting _me_ get killed."

I rolled my eyes. Her ego was still huge. I wasn't sure if anything could change it. "Come on."

We kept sneaking around. We passed some things that looked pretty disgusting, and some pretty ugly monsters that fit right in with the rest of the sewer. But no Isabella. I tried to sense her ring of mortality (every mortal has an aura of death around them that I can see, son of Hades perk), but it was pretty faint. At least she wasn't actually dead.

Eventually, the faint ring got a bit stronger. I started moving towards it, Penelope on my trail. We got to an area with two split paths. One of them was full of monsters, and the other was full of riches. I could sense them. Yep, _another_ son of Hades perk.

"The wings are in there," Penelope said, glancing at the path with riches.

"And Isabella's down that way," I said, looking at the path full of monsters.

"I'll go after Isabella," Penelope said. "You get the wings."

"What?" I asked. "Penelope- you can't take on all those monsters by yourself. And besides, you're the daughter of the goddess of Victory. If anyone should be getting those wings-"

"I was the one who let Isabella get kidnapped," Penelope interrupted. "I was too busying trying to prove myself by fighting monsters." She gripped the front of my shirt, bringing me a little too close than I was comfortable with. Her eyes flashed with determination. "Nico, I must go after her. I have to redeem myself."

"But by yourself," I repeated. "You'll _die_."

"Like I said," Penelope insisted, "Monsters get killed by _me_."

"No," I shook my head. "No one's that skilled."

Penelope let me go. "No. _Most_ people aren't that skilled." She backed away. "Get the wings, Nico."

"You're crazy," I spluttered.

"You heard me," Penelope growled, that harsh look in her eyes. I glared back at her.

"Fine," I said, "but I'll know if you do die. And you better make sure Isabella doesn't die either."

Penelope nodded, and raced over to the monsters. I followed the path to the wings, twitching nervously. Regret was a thumping pain at the back of my head. I walked slowly, passing gold, treasure chests, and lots of other stuff. It was dark, but there was a pale light ahead, glimmering against all the expensive stuff. I already knew it was the wings. The power was reaching me from where I was standing.

I moved faster, not noticing the mud beneath my feet getting more and more shallow. The wings were standing there in a pool of sunlight. They were golden, and very shiny; I had to cover my eyes for a moment. They filled me with a sense of confidence; I had the strong urge to put them on and fly out of the sewer. Yeah. I wanted to _fly_.

My legs felt like jelly as I forced myself to keep walking towards the wings. They gave me confidence, but somehow, they also intimidated me. I slowly reached out my hand, and felt them; they had the coolness of metal, while also having the lightweight, gentle feeling that feathers had. Cautiously, I grabbed the wings; they were large but not heavy, so they were pretty awkward to carry, kind of like a big box. I slipped them onto my back (not wearing them, at least, not intentionally) and began speed-walking out.

I bet I looked pretty awkward; a scrawny teen boy with a big pair of golden wings balanced on his back. Part of me wanted to actually wear them, but I decided against because who knew what would happen. Usually, not something great.

I got out of the tunnel, and heard someone screaming from the tunnel with Isabella. I felt a wave of panic and ran down that path. I could sense life disappearing before my eyes.

No one was dead. But they were dying.

Penelope was backed up against a wall, covered in cuts and bruises. Isabella was stuck in some kind of cage. Monsters were everywhere. The girls had no chance.

Penelope looked at me, in fright.

"Put them on!" she screamed. What a stupid idea.

So I went against my better judgement and put the wings on. And then everything exploded.


	16. I blow everything up

**A/N: Hey, so I know it's been a looonnnngggg time since the last chapter. I'm sorry about that. I've just been busy with my other fanfics, school work, and my comic. I also lost a lot of motivation for this fanfic. However, I don't want to discontinue this story, but updates will probably be a lot slower from now on.**

 **I've got some chapters I pre-wrote for this fanfic so be on the lookout for those...**

 **And thanks for your patience.**

* * *

Imagine drinking 300 cups of coffee, 300 cups of sugar and getting super powers. And then your brain explodes.

Because that's what it felt like when I put the Wings of Victory on. In a way, I almost felt like a ten year old again. Except on steroids. _And_ with super powers.

Suddenly I was flying, power thrumming all around me. Children of Hades weren't supposed to _fly_. But then again, most people weren't supposed to wear Nike's wings.

I was kind of aware of what was happening, but I was also partly on autopilot. I had no idea how my friends were reacting. I just kind of knew that things were happening and I could fly. And that I crashed through a wall and caused a lot of explosions. Debris was everywhere, and the walls were slightly cracked. I heard yelling from the monsters.

"Who let him get the wings?" a monster growled. "Idiots!"

"Maybe he got them by himself," I replied, my voice suddenly a lot louder and more powerful. I felt more powerful too. Was this what it was like to be a god? Because I was starting to like it. I liked being super powerful, suddenly. Is that normal?

"Now, prepare to perish!" I yelled. I flew towards the monsters, creating even more explosions. I knocked them all down with one swing of my sword. And I enjoyed it. I liked winning now. I felt like I could win every marathon in the world. The Olympics? Piece of cake. Tour de France? I'd do it.

But above all, I felt… great. The feeling was so unnatural but so amazing at the same time. I'd never felt it before, at least, not so strongly. I wasn't scared of anything. I could've fought Gaia again, easily. Looking at it now, it was almost _too_ great. It kind of scares me what could've happened to me if I kept the wings on for too long.

Anyway, I was still kicking butt. I grabbed a monster by the scruff of its neck (ha!) and threw it into the wall, like a football player. It crashed so hard the wall cracked. I was smiling too, really big smiles. My face was hurting from those smiles.

"Bring it on!" I yelled at the other monsters. "You think you can defeat me? I am the Ghost King! I am the witholder of victory!" (I sure was arrogant.)

The monsters stared at me.

"Foolish demigod," a giant growled. "You may have the wings, but you will never defeat the entire army!"

"We'll see about THAT!" I screamed back. And then I blew everything up.

No, I'm not exaggerating, I literally exploded the whole sewer. Power pretty much raced out of me, crashing into the walls like race cars. The ground was shaking, and it was raining debris. I heard even more yelling. Somehow, there was fire. I don't know where that came from. But I was feeling pretty satisfied.

"Nico!" Penelope screamed. "You've gone too far!"

"There is no such thing as too far," I yelled back. "I have victory on my side!"

"NICO!" Penelope yelled back, nearly dodging a piece of wall.

"We need to get out of here." Isabella said, clinging onto Penelope's arm.

"I can do that," I said. "But I have to kill these monsters first!"

"Nico!" Penelope yelled, stomping her foot. Ash was on her hair, making it look darker. "We'll get crushed to death if we stay here any longer, you idiot!"

I glared at her, crushing a piece of debris in my fingers. "Don't talk to me like that, you-"

"Help!" Isabella shouted. Her leg was trapped underneath some debris. A crazy monster was approaching her.

"You see what I mean?" Penelope snapped.

I folded my arms, my hair flying around my face in waves. Yep, that was happening as well.

"Let's get the Hades out of here." I said, scowling. I flew towards Isabella, and kicked the monster to death. I picked her up, sort of holding her like a baby. She looked up at me in relief. It was… maybe... kind of cute. And maybe... it made me feel like… a, um, big brother. I'm not repeating that, so don't ask.

Anyway, I flew over to Penelope too, and grabbed her arm.

"We're gonna go out with a bang," I said. "Ready?"

"No," Isabella whimpered.

"I'm always ready." Penelope grinned.

And then I flew upwards, and exploded everything. Again.

I crashed through the ground, causing a massive explosion. The mortals were freaked out. Behind me was a massive hole. There was a lot of smoke, too, which trailed behind me. I was zooming into the sky.

 _Oh, crap,_ I thought. _Not supposed to be in the sky!_

I turned around at ridiculous speeds, zooming in out and between buildings. Now I really had no idea where I was going. I smashed through a building, somehow still holding onto my friends.

"LAND, YOU IDIOT!" Penelope screamed.

"I CAN'T CONTROL THIS THING!" I yelled back. By now, I was trying my hardest not to crash into a gazillion more buildings.

"FLY STRAIGHT!" Penelope yelled.

"I CAN DO NEITHER!"

"WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!"

I decided to focus on not wobbling. I was starting to get a little bit back on track, but my head was still spinning. I held out my arms (well, as much as I could while holding Isabella), like a plane. Now I was flying a little better. And guess what, I was kind of enjoying it. Ironic, right?

I actually smiled again.

"That's more like it!" Penelope said, encouragingly.

"Aww," Isabella sighed, "it was more fun when we were flying all over the place!"

"You wanna go back to doing that, kid?!" I asked, frowning.

"Yep!" Isabella replied.

"That was rhetorical!" I groaned.

Isabella just giggled.

"I'll admit," Penelope said, "it was kind of fun."

"You two are crazy." I said, rolling my eyes.

"No, we just like having fun!" Penelope said, who was now sitting on my back. If I was myself I would've been really uncomfortable about that.

"We should land," I decided. "I don't want to risk being up here anymore."

Both the girls sighed sadly. I rolled my eyes again. Girls were crazy. Thank the Gods I'm gay.

I descended, landing somewhat near the fountain Nike wanted us to go to. I put Isabella down, and Penelope jumped off me with a backflip.

"Show-off." I said.

"Says the one with the wings." Penelope scoffed. I rolled my eyes.

"At least I'm more in control of my own arrogance." I said. I slowly removed the wings, ignoring Penelope's ranting. As soon as I did, I fell over, slumping against the fountain. My legs felt like cement. It was like I'd been shadow-travelling, but a thousand times worse.

Isabella sat next to me, and offered me some water. "Wow, that drained you."

"Mmmhmm," I replied, taking a sip.

"Your feelings almost exploded my brain, by the way," Isabella commented. "Those wings made you pretty much _radiate_ hubris. Kind of like how Penelope is… except she doesn't need wings to do that."

I snorted.

"What's so funny?" Penelope asked, hoisting up the wings.

"Nothing," I shrugged innocently. "When's your mom coming, by the way?"

"Right now." a new voice answered. A woman appeared before us. Guess who?

"Nike." I said.

"Congratulations, demigods!" Nike clapped. I noticed she wasn't facing Penelope, which was weird. "You completed the quest! Just as I thought you would."

Penelope bowed to her mother. "Of course, mother. Did I do well?"

"Not as well as I expected," Nike chided. "You let son of Hades take your spotlight by becoming soft."

Penelope looked at her shoes.

"If you can't live up to your promise…" Nike said, with a tight frown, "then you will receive no award. I will send you back to your father."

"Mother, no!" Penelope suddenly sounded like she was about to burst into tears. "You can't!"

I sighed. For once, I could be empathetic with Penelope. How many times had my father belittled me?

"Excuse me, Lady Nike," I spoke up. "But, to be fair, she fought a lot of monsters by herself. Without her, I wouldn't have been able to get the wings. She really helped."

Penelope looked at me, gratefully.

Nike frowned. "My children must be in the spotlight, son of Hades. She should've been the one wearing the wings."

I was about to lose my temper. But for the sake of my own life, I stayed calm. "Nike, I mean, Lady Nike, she-"

"She saved me!" Isabella blurted out. "She saved my life! And Nico's! And killed a bunch of monsters!" She looked angry. "You're just being a terrible mom, ma'am!"

"Isabella!" I yelled, horrified.

Nike glared at Isabella, looking severely disappointed, like she had come last in a marathon. "You should be thankful you are under special circumstances, or I would not hesitate to kill you, Soul's Child." She turned back to Penelope and I. "I'll let you stay, Penelope. But you must train at that demigod camp, and become my strongest hero."

"Yes, mother," Penelope nodded.

"And you, son of Hades," Nike looked at me with that harsh glare. I felt like I myself had just lost every marathon in the universe. "You are a powerful demigod. Perhaps a smart one, too. Even with that said, you must make the right decision. Or you will become an enemy to all."

I didn't say anything as Nike and her wings disappeared. In its place was an envelope. I picked it up. Inside were two overnight passes for a luxury hotel.

There was a silence.

"I'm sorry about my mother," Penelope said quietly, looking away.

"Don't worry about it," I said. "I know what it feels like. My dad used to compare to my dead sister. Really didn't help my self-esteem."

"Wait, really?" Isabella asked.

I sighed. "Let's not get into it."

"What's this… demigod camp my mother mentioned?" Penelope asked.

"Camp Half-Blood," I said. "I'd take you there, but… I've got a quest to finish. I'll give you the address, though."

"Thank you." Penelope smiled, as I recited the address.

"No worries," I said. I raised my hand. "Well. Uh, safe travels. I guess."

"You too," Penelope nodded. "Good luck on your quest, Nico. And. Sorry. About being a jerk."

I shrugged, putting my hands in my pockets. "I went nuts when I put those stupid wings on. All... all is forgiven." It was still hard for me to forgive people sometimes. But that's what fatal flaws are, I guess.

Penelope gave Isabella a little hug, and then we were on our way. I gazed over our luxury hotel passes, with a small sigh.

"Hey, Nico," Isabella nudged my elbow.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Nike called me… 'Soul's Child'," Isabella said. "What does that mean?"

I sighed, shaking my head. "No idea, Bella. We'll find out, probably."


	17. I go to the worst waterpark ever

**A/N: Hey guys, once again my apologies for the slow updates. I had some time so I decided to work on this story again. Hope you enjoy the chapter. :)**

* * *

Isabella clung onto my arm as we walked to the luxury hotel. Thank the gods, it was only a ten minute walk away; I was in no shape to walk a marathon.

I didn't bother to shake Isabella off. I just wanted to focus on getting to the stupid hotel.

"I miss Penelope," she said, sadly. Her feelings brushed against me, and I felt sad, too. Kind of against my will.

"Hey, I miss her too, but no need to make me feel so down about it." I grunted.

"It's kind of hard to stop…" Isabella sighed. "You're very tired, by the way. And yeah, you should call your boyfriend."

I gritted my teeth. "Stop reading my mind."

Isabella just giggled.

* * *

The hotel was impressive. Like, _really_ impressive. Almost as impressive as the Lotus Hotel and Casino.

It was about 10 storeys, with a water park that had two slides and a swimming pool. Every room was a luxury suite with a bouquet dinner and built-in spa. There was also an arcade, a casino, a giant room for assemblies, a party room, and plenty more.

I didn't feel like going to any of those places. I just wanted to sleep.

After checking in at the fancy reception, we headed to our rooms. A porter insisted on carrying our backpack, even though it wasn't that heavy. My room was like stepping into Elysium. The carpet was white and fluffy and the bed was the softest thing I've ever laid on. It gets better, though. There was a dressing gown there, and it was so comfy I actually went up to reception and asked if I could buy it. They said no, but gave me a link to a website where I could buy one. I'd have to show it to Will or someone to buy it for me, since I can't use a computer to save my life.

I went back up to my room to sleep. Oh, and IM Will, too. He'd yell at me if I didn't. I was unlocking the door to my room when Isabella ran up to me. She was staying in a room nearby so I could keep an eye on her.

"Hey Nico," she said, "I'm going down to the waterpark."

"Mmm," I said, yawning. I barely heard her. Gods, those wings really had done a number on me.

"Do you want to come?" She asked.

"No," I grunted. "I'm tired. And plus, me and water don't mix very well. It's not really my type, y'know?"

"But what if something bad happens?" Isabella asked. "Like a monster appears or something..."

I sighed. "Then just don't go, kid."

Isabella looked disappointed. I felt disappointment come off her in waves, and it made my head hurt.

"Fine," I snapped, as her face brightened up. "You can go down there. I'll meet you there, soon. Just gonna call Will."

"Thanks, Nico!" Isabella said, hugging me. That caught me off-guard. Then she ran away, mortals staring at her as she passed. I rolled my eyes. Kids.

I headed inside my luxury room, adjusting my dressing gown. There was a balcony outside, where I could see the view of San Francisco. The sun was setting, making the city look like a sea of gold. I headed back inside, and went into the bathroom. There was a spa-bath in there, and a huge shower. The biggest shower I'd ever seen. I opened a window at the top of the bathroom, letting the pale sun shine in. I turned on the shower, getting my hair doused in freezing-cold water. Great.

I flipped a coin into the shower, saying, "Will Solace, Camp Half-Blood."

Will was in his cabin, hanging out with his siblings. He jumped when he saw me, then smiled.

"Nico!" he said, then frowned. "It's been ages! I tried IMMing you before, but you didn't answer me!"

"I've been busy," I sighed. "And I can't talk for long here, either. I've gotta go down to a waterpark."

"What?" Will asked, eyes wide.

I explained the past few days to him. Kayla and Austin appeared, so they heard the story, too.

"That Penelope kid sounds pretty aggressive," Austin commented. "Don't worry, man. If she comes here, we'll help her."

"Thanks." I said.

"You're not being a great babysitter by hanging out here and talking to us," Kayla said. "At least go down to the waterpark to keep an eye on her."

"With all those mortals?" I asked. "No thanks."

"The mist?"

"I want privacy, okay?"

"Nico," Will spoke up. "Just focus on your quest. And eat healthy. If you get sick at the end-"

"Yeah, I'll eat my greens," I snapped. I softened up. "I'd better go, then. See you guys."

"Bye!" They yelled, as Will waved his hand through the message. I brushed my hair out of my face (it was pretty damp) and left the room. I put my nose in the soft fuzziness of my dressing gown; gods, I loved that thing. I gazed at a map of the hotel, and headed to a lift. There was another kid in there, he was Filipino and looked around my age. He was also wearing a dressing gown. He seemed pretty mortal, thank the Gods.

"Hi," he said, as I entered the elevator.

I nodded politely. You could probably tell I wasn't in the mood for talking.

"So," he said. "Are you here with anyone?"

"My friend." I replied.

"I'm here with my family," the kid said. "They're at the waterpark. I was just getting this dressing gown."

I nodded again. I had no idea why this kid was talking to me, mortals are weird like that, I guess. Usually I drive people away, but this kid didn't seem to mind.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Waterpark, as well." I replied.

"Cool," the kid said. "Are you going to the party tonight?"

"Party?" I asked, raising my brow.

"There's a party in the assembly hall," the kid answered. "Everyone's invited."

"Great," I said, looking away. "Definitely not going."

"Why not?" the kid asked. I tried not to groan.

"You ask a lot questions," I said. "You shouldn't talk to strangers."

"But strangers are also friends you haven't met." the kid said. I snorted.

"In a fantasy world where there's sunshine and rainbows 24/7." I deadpanned.

That actually made the kid laugh.

"I like you," he said, grinning. "What's your name? I'm Jake."

"Nico." I said, shaking his hand. Names were dangerous, but this kid hadn't turned into a monster and tried to kill me yet, so that was a good sign.

The elevator opened.

"Nice to meet you, Nico," Jake said. Huh, people didn't say that often. Was Isabella's attractiveness rubbing off on me, making everyone want to be my best friend?

"Yeah," I said, quietly, looking for Isabella. "You too."

The waterpark was even bigger now that I was actually physically in it. The slides reached halfway up the building, and twisted all over the place like Percy when he was playing 'Extreme Twister' invented by Leo. Long story. No. _Very_ long and painful story.

Narrowly avoiding running into some screaming kids, I looked around for my friend. I saw tons of other kids, on the slides, in the swimming pool, in the park. They were all having a great time. I was not.

I saw Jake with his family. It looked like he had five siblings, which reminded me of my father, oddly. I wondered what he thought of me going on this ridiculous quest? He hadn't stopped me, so I assumed that was about all the feedback I was going to get from him. Father of the year.

I couldn't see Isabella anywhere, so I called out her name.

"Isabella!" I shouted. I jumped out of the way of some more hyperactive kids. None of them were Isabella.

"Bella?" I cried out, again. "Bella!"

I didn't want to actually have to go on the stupid waterslides unless I had no choice, so I was craning my head to look everywhere I could. No luck.

"Looking for your friend?" Jake asked, appearing behind me.

"Yeah." I said.

"What does she look like?" Jake asked. I frowned. When it came to Isabella, that question could be… controversial.

"She's really pretty," I said. "Like, breathtakingly beautiful. Literally. You'll know when you see her."

"I actually saw someone like that," Jake said. "She had brown hair with blonde streaks, and she was wearing all grey. Does that sound familiar?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Where did you see her?"

Jake pointed at one of the waterslides. "Up there."

Once again, I tried not to groan.

"Do you know if she ever came down?" I asked.

"Not sure, but I don't think so," Jake said, shrugging. "She's probably still waiting in line. It gets really busy up there."

I bit my lip. Considering she was a demigod, that wasn't a good sign.

"Thanks for your help," I said, straightening up. "If you see her around, let me know."

"No worries," Jake replied. "Good luck finding her!"

I think I needed a lot more than good luck.

* * *

Jake was right about the slide being packed. I could barely move.

I slipped through the crowds of people, scanning for Isabella. I still couldn't see her.

"Hey!" I bumped into someone.

"Sorry," I muttered, and kept moving.

"Are you pushing in front of everyone?" the guy asked, glaring at me.

"No." I said, hurriedly getting away. I rubbed my arm, and was reminded why I hated touching people.

I got to the top of the slides, where the life guards eyed me curiously. I asked about Isabella.

"Saw a kid like her before," one of them said. "She went down the slide."

"Oh," I said, biting my lip. She must've still been down there after all. "Alright, thanks."

I was about to turn away, when suddenly I heard a massive explosion. I almost fell over. I looked back, and saw that the waterslide had been blown to bits. Best part? People were falling to their deaths.

Great.

I jumped into the shadows, and summoned as many skeletons as I could to catch the falling people. Landing on the skeletons wouldn't have been comfortable, but it would've broken the fall.

"Nico!" I heard a voice, amongst all the screaming and yelling. I looked up. Isabella!

"Hey..." I said, falling to my knees. Shadow-travelling is the worst.

Isabella screamed. There was a monster up there.

"You thought you could got rid me that easily, di Angelo?" he boomed. Great.

The manticore was back.


	18. An unwanted guest blows up a waterslide

Yeah, I don't know how that idiot reformed so quickly either.

I was now pretty much soaking (great) while the lion-hybrid chased Isabella around the semi-destroyed waterslide. The water-slide in question had a big, gaping hole (even more great), so I was pretty sure no one was going to be riding on it anytime soon. It's one of those water slides that has an area right in the middle, where you swirl around before continuing the actual slide. The hole was there, in the centre of the big area.

Since I was standing directly below it, I could see the silhouettes of Isabella and the manticore while water pelted down on me. I couldn't shadow-travel up there, not while I was soaking wet. I wished I had Percy's water-controlling powers.

Oh well, at least the water was keeping me awake.

I moved back, racing through the park. People were running around and screaming (mortals do that very well), so I didn't look out of place. Plus, I was still wearing the fluffy gown (which was also wet… but still comfortable).

I ran up the slide's stairs, snatching a floating ring while I was going. I got to the top again, completely out of breath. At least no one could complain I wasn't doing enough exercise.

"Hey, kid!" the lifeguard said. "Get out of here, it's too dangerous! There's already one person on the- hey, stop!"

I slipped past him, and threw myself onto the floating ring. It landed on the slide, and I was going down. It would've been fun if there wasn't a monster half-way down.

I muttered some curse words as I reached the middle part. It was now like a giant donut, with the walls curving up like waves. Water rushed around in a big circle, heading towards the big hole in the centre. Isabella was also on a floating ring, holding out her whip as Dr. Thorn chased her in circles. I changed my position on the ring, kind of like I was surfing. It was almost fun. Again, the whole monster being there kind of ruined it for me.

"SON OF HADES!" Dr. Thorn screamed. "YOU WILL DIE!"

"Got anything else to scream at me, or are you all out of ideas?" I snapped back. Dr. Thorn roared and raced towards me, splashing water everywhere. Isabella was hauling her whip over the side of the slide, like she wanted to leave. Smart idea.

As for me, I pushed forward using my foot, going towards the monster. That may sound like a dumb idea, but I was prepared. My sword was out, and I was directing it at the manticore.

"You really think you can defeat me up here?" Dr. Thorn asked. "You are in the air and around water. Both of which are _not_ your turf."

"Yeah, true," I retorted, "but I'm a demigod. And trust me, I can make it work."

The manticore roared and jumped towards me. I swung my sword, knocking him back. He rolled towards the hole.

"FOOL!" he bellowed. He flapped his wings, and charged at me. Suddenly, he was jerked back by a strong force. Isabella's whip!

"Let me go!" Dr. Thorn roared, flailing around. Isabella fell off her ring as Dr. Thorn flew around, dragging her with him. She came dangerously close to the hole. And that's when I got a stupid idea.

Using foot power, I pushed myself towards Isabella, who actually looked like she was having fun.

"Bella," I said, "give me the the whip."

Isabella held out her hand. I grabbed the whip, and nearly fell out of my own tube. I'm not a heavy person, as I've been told by almost everyone I've met. So my weight wasn't going to make much difference. But what about the weight of two people?

I grabbed Isabella around the waist. She yelped out in surprise, wrapping herself around me tightly. I imagined that's what it felt like to be suffocated by a boa constrictor. Now with our weight combined, I moved nearby the hole.

"Nico, what are you doing?" Isabella asked me.

"Something stupid," I replied. And then I jumped through the hole.

Isabella's grip tightened, but we didn't fall straight down and die. We fell for a bit, then stopped.

"Your whip," I told Isabella, "bring it down."

Isabella did. The whip came down, bringing the monster with it, and I heard something crash into the waterslide while cursing. Dr. Thorn!

"Good," I said. "Now-"

"DEMIGODS!" Dr. Thorn suddenly crashed through the slide, coming straight for us. He held out his poisonous spikes.

"No thanks," I snapped. And then I let go of the whip, and we were actually falling.

Thankfully, we landed on a pile of skeletons. It wasn't really comfortable, but it was better than breaking every bone in our bodies. People were _still_ running around and screaming. Mortals sure liked to panic. We were now in a flat place with a cement floor, right next to the waterpark. I rubbed a scab on my arm. Ouch.

"Look out!" Isabella shouted. Dr. Thorn was coming towards us. Again. And he still looked mad.

"Whoa!" a voice shouted. "Is that a flying lion?"

I turned around. It was Jake. He was staring at Dr. Thorn with amazed eyes.

"Long story," I replied. "You should get out of here!"

"Who's that?" Isabella asked, gazing at Jake. "Do you know him?"

"We'll talk later." I said, holding up my sword. "Right now, let's deal with this fat lion."

Dr. Thorn roared, showing off his canines. He slung a poisonous thorn at me. I jumped down; it narrowly missed my head. Instead, the handle of Isabella's whip bonked me.

"That is freaking terrifying," Jake said, mouth agape. "What kind of special effects does this hotel use?"

"Jake, seriously," I warned, "get out of here."

"Wait, is that _real_?" Jake's eyes widened. "No way, man."

"He's… clear-sighted." Isabella commented. I nodded.

"Actually… maybe he can help us." I said, getting another dumb idea. I turned to Jake. "Yeah, that is real. Want to help kill it?"

"Kill it?" Jake asked. "Why would you want to kill it?"

"Because-" I began, but Dr. Thorn saved me an explanation as he swooped down once again, holding out his tail out. Isabella screamed out in pain.

"Poison!" she yelled. The feeling of her pain was so strong I nearly felt like I myself had been stung.

"That's why." I told Jake, who had his brow raised. Maybe he was feeling the pain, too.

"Nasty," the mortal shook his head. "Will that poison kill her?"

"No, but it's really painful," I said. "Like a bee sting on steroids."

"How can I help?" Jake asked.

I stood up, supporting Isabella.

"We'll need weight," I said, "hope you're heavier than me."

* * *

We stood in a circle, waiting for the manticore to swing around. Jake was carrying a few bags of weights. How he was able to move, I don't know. He was a tough guy.

When Dr. Thorn came flying at us, we reached out for the whip. All grabbing it, the force dragged the manticore downwards. He crashed into the ground, making me flinch. I almost felt bad for him.

"Keep it steady, guys," I said. I stood up, and ran towards the manticore.

"You foolish demigod," he spat, "thinking… thinking you can take on me."

"I think you're the foolish one here, buddy," I said. I held out my sword. "Now leave me the Hades alone."

And I cut off his head off.

* * *

"You're a what?" Jake asked, again.

"Demigod." I said, for the fifth time. Jake, Isabella and I were hanging out in the hotel's lobby, drinking hot tea with towels around our shoulders, courtesy of the hotel. It was more relaxed here, thank the gods. The police were also here, investigating the whole exploding water slide thing. They'd come up with this whole story. Apparently, the manticore, who was a thug in the eyes of the mortals, was carrying an explosive, and he used it in the middle of the slide. This baddie thug was apparently also a paedophile who was chasing after a little girl. As well as that, he tried to harass the girl's 'older brother' (hmph) and his friend, but 'mysteriously disappeared' before police could arrest him. The story was kind of funny, actually. Mortals really know how to fit things into their little world.

"That's awesome." Jake said, eyes shining.

"It's not." I replied. "You're really lucky, Jake. Trust me."

"I heard the hotel's still having their party," Isabella said. "They're also giving everyone a discount here tonight, and a free massage, to make up for all the trouble."

I rolled my eyes. "Yep, a free massage will solve everything."

"Are you coming to the party?" Jake asked me.

"Gods, no," I sighed. "I'm done with today."

I wish life were that easy.


	19. I go to a terrible party

So, exciting news: I went back up to the room and passed out on my bed. As far as I was concerned, the day was over. I didn't even care if I had a weird demigod dream. I just wanted to sleep.

I was actually starting to drift off when someone knocked on the door. I ignored it, rolling over. The knocking got louder and more insistent. Well, so did I. I kept trying to sleep. I was not getting up unless Gaia herself was rising again.

"Nico!" a voice hissed at the door. It was Jake. Something about his voice sounded off, but I couldn't tell what. "Are you in there?"

I covered my ears with my pillow.

"I really think we should just let him sleep," said another voice. Isabella, of course.

"No way," Jake responded. "He can't miss the party!"

I was starting to get annoyed now. I covered myself in blankets.

"Just leave him alone, Jake…" Isabella said, may the gods bless her. "He doesn't have to come."

"He's meant to be looking after you, right?" Jake asked. "He wouldn't just… let you run off, would he?"

"Can't you look after me, Jake?" Isabella asked.

"I'm not a demigod. I don't have super powers." Jake replied.

"That doesn't matter," Isabella said. "If something happens, you can IM Nico."

"IM?" Jake asked.

Isabella nodded. "Iris-message. Demigods can't use phones because it attracts monsters, so we have another way of communicating called Iris messaging. It's like FaceTiming, but with more-"

"OH MY GODS, _SHUT UP!_ " I yelled, almost ripping apart my pillow. "Take your conversation somewhere else!"

"Hey, you're awake!" Jake said, oddly cheerful. "Awesome! Come to the party!"

"NO!" I raged. I realised if I kept yelling, I'd probably cause an Earthquake, and this hotel had enough problems already. So I took a breather, wiping off my chest. "Look, I'm done with running around for today. You can go to the stupid party, but I'm not coming. Jake, please keep an eye on Bella, though."

"Fine," Jake sighed. "Let's go, Isabella."

"Okay…" Isabella said, apprehensive.

And they finally left me alone, in peace. I rolled over, falling asleep. Well, I tried to, anyway. There was a really loud and annoying voice at the back of my head, screaming my name. In a way it sounded like it was in pain, but at the same time, it made me very frustrated. It wouldn't _go away_ , no matter how hard I squeezed the pillow. I was about to jump off the damn balcony.

I sat up, frustrated. The world really didn't want me to sleep. At all.

I got out of bed.

 _May as well go to the party_ , I thought. I slipped on a loose, black hoodie and some jeans (the amazingly comfy dressing gown was soaking wet) and headed down to the party, via elevator. It wasn't that hard since I could hear the music from a mile away. I bet if I strained hard enough, I could see it, too.

Shoving past some big doors, I walked into the party. It was a thousand times louder in there, and so flashy I thought I was going to go blind. The music was so loud I could barely hear myself think. In the corner I could see some tables with bowls full of punch and other junk foods. People were dancing around, crashing into me and laughing. I didn't think it was funny at all, and I was really regretting my choice to come.

I looked around for Isabella and Jake, but I couldn't see them anywhere. It was hard enough to see my own hands, so I didn't have much hope of finding them. I forced myself through crowds of people, when the music got louder. Everyone started cheering, and counting down.

This all was giving me a headache, and I was just about ready to give up and leave.

"Nico!" someone small crashed into me. It was Isabella! I latched onto her so she wouldn't disappear into the crowd.

"Where's Jake?" I asked.

"The thing is-" Isabella was interrupted when suddenly we were split apart by a ton of people racing around. Some random stranger grabbed my arm, like she was trying to get me to dance with her. Oh boy, I _hate_ it when people touch me, especially when I've got the migraine of the century, and the girl I'm supposed to watch over is missing once more.

"Get off!" I snapped, pushing her away out of reflexes.

"But Michael, you said you'd dance with me!" a female voice whined.

"I'm not Michael," I said, my headache getting worse. "You've got the wrong person."

"Don't lie to me, Michael!" the girl cried.

"I'm _not_ Michael!" I snapped, as the girl tried to grab me. "Get off!"

Black stone burst through the floor, and appeared in between us.

"Michael, what is this?" the girl asked. She stared at me with hurt in her eyes. I stumbled backwards. And then I ran away before she could ask anymore questions, searching for Isabella.

"Bella?" I shouted, my voice being drowned out by the music.

"Nico!" Isabella replied, appearing out of the darkness and clinging onto my arm.

"Where's Jake?" I asked her, again.

"He's not a mortal," Isabella whimpered.

"What?" I asked.

"He's a monster." Isabella said, her eyes widening. Jake suddenly appeared, but his eyes weren't human anymore. They were like a snake's. My fists trembled.

"You," I said, suddenly full of rage.

"Jake wasn't lying to you, demigod," 'Jake' said. "No… he is not here right now. I only needed his form to lure you two here."

I glowered. "What do you mean?"

"And what did you do with Jake?" Isabella added, hiding behind me.

"Well," the monster said, darkly, "he will die, if you don't agree to our terms."

I narrowed my eyes. "Terms?"

The monster's face was a twisted smirk. And that's when all Hades broke lose.


	20. The male empousa

**A/N: Hey guys, after yet another long time I'm back... I do want to finish this story, so I'll be writing some more chapters in the future. Hope you guys are excited. XD**

 **No, updates won't become frequent, but... hopefully I'll be able to make more.**

 **Thanks for reading!**

* * *

Nothing makes me more angry than a betrayal.

You're annoyingly loud? I can deal with it.

You're impatient? I'm used to it. (Most of the time...)

You're a traitor? I can't handle that.

I felt power rising inside myself. The ground started to shake, and bones appeared at my feet. It was pretty dark, and most of the mortals had left. The dance floor was covered in fruit punch, chocolate, and Stygian iron. And someone's wallet, it looked like.

"Um, Nico," Isabella tugged my jacket. "Maybe you should… calm down?"

"Yes, demigod," the monster hissed, tauntingly. It was an empousa… a _male_ empousa. I didn't even know they existed. His skin was slightly darker than Jake's, his eyes were red, and his hair was messier. He bared his fangs at me.

"And besides, it is not a true betrayal," he cackled. "Your friend Jake lives, but he is not here anymore."

I narrowed my eyes.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I mean, if you want him to live, you will give me the girl." the empousa hissed, holding out a clawed hand. "That are the terms."

"Terms." I repeated, slowly.

"If you give me the girl, I will let you, that boy, and everyone else live," said the monster. "There'll be no fighting. I'll let you go as soon as you hand her over. I promise!"

"Just give me to him," Isabella said, grabbing my arm. "I'll… figure it out."

"I don't trust this guy," I said, scowling. "Not even a bit."

"Nico," Isabella pleaded, her voice shaky. "Jake could _die_."

"Some deaths can't be prevented." I said, firmly. Isabella gasped, covering her mouth.

"You're horrible!" she shouted, tears building in her eyes.

I scowled. "No, I'm right, kid. If I was wrong, then my sister would still be alive. So would your father."

Isabella put a hand over her heart, a tear slipping down her cheek. I felt waves of sadness suddenly overcome me, almost making me trip over myself. My sister's face appeared in my head.

"Stop doing that," I begged. My tone became hard. "Stop it, Isabella!"

Isabella looked away, the feelings slowly vanishing. I huffed, folding my arms.

"Have you made your decision, then?" the empousa asked, grinning sadistically at me.

"Yes," I replied. I grabbed the hilt of my sword. "I won't give you the girl."

The empousa's eyes darkened. "Then your mortal friend will die."

I flipped my sword into my grip. "Not if I kill you first."

The empousa roared, baring his fangs. He lunged towards me; I summoned a wall of Stygian iron, blocking him. A skeleton warrior appeared beside me, and charged towards the empousa.

"Die!" the empousa screamed, flying away from the skeleton. He flew through it with a crash, headed towards me. I jumped onto a table and kicked a half-full bowl of punch towards the monster. It doused him, making him smell like strawberries and peaches. I got uncomfortable memories of the fruit van.

Then I realised Isabella was gone... again.

"Bella?" I called out, but I couldn't see her. I wanted to impale myself with my sword. Why was she so easy to lose?

The empousa roared and lunged towards me. I kicked more things on the table at him, including more punch, bowls of chocolate-covered fruit, and exploding cans of soft drinks. I got so desperate I picked up a live chocolate fountain and threw the whole thing at the empousa. He angrily threw it back, covering both of us in chocolate. I think I once mentioned there needs to be a god of laundromats.

Getting chocolate out of my hair, I ran away, searching for Isabella. The empousa, angrier than before, chased after me.

"You fool!" he cackled. "You'll never find her before I do!"

I growled, turning to stare at him over my shoulder. "Then at least tell me where Jake is."

"Never!" he roared.

"I'll kill you if you don't." I turned around, and held my sword to his throat. "Tell me now."

The empousa smirked. "Don't be a fool, mortal. I'll regenerate from Tatarus when I die."

"You could be down there for a long time," I reminded him, digging my sword deeper into his neck. "A decade. And besides, even if you're only down there for a few months, you won't be able to go hunting for Isabella."

The empousa's smirk turned into a scowl.

"Ten seconds," I told him. "Tell me where Jake is, or you get a nice, slow, painful death."

"The basement," the empousa ground out. Suddenly, as quick as a flash, he reached out, scratching my arms. I stumbled back, and he took his chance and zoomed away.

I muttered a curse, putting my sword away.

At least I knew where one mortal was.

* * *

The basement wasn't too hard to find. I just asked one of the hotel staff, and she seemed to think I was important (how nice), so she told me.

Still wielding my sword, I went downstairs, getting to the basement. It didn't look a whole lot different from the assembly room, just smaller. I pushed the heavy doors open, and was confronted with a room full of cleaning supplies, junk, and things like that. I walked through, holding up my head. My whole body was tense.

I kept a steady pace as I moved through the basement, looking left and right. I couldn't see anyone, but I could sense an aura of death. That usually meant there was a mortal around. I headed towards it. The junk began to clear out, and in the distance, I saw a figure.

"Jake." I said, calmly.

"N… Nico?" a voice replied. Jake was ahead. He was tied to a chair with chains, his eyes wide with fear.

"Who tied you up?" I asked, walking over to him.

"These crazy guys," he said. "One of them looked like me, except he had red eyes. The others were all really big and muscular. They said they were looking for someone."

I frowned. "They're monsters."

"I guessed." Jake grunted, still trembling.

"I'll get you out," I said. "Stay still."

I held up my sword. Jake went pale.

"Are you going to kill me?!" he stammered.

I tried not to roll my eyes. "No. I'm cutting the chains off."

Jake looked away, as I brought my sword down. The chains slipped off his body. He turned back, his lip quivering.

"Oh…" he said. He bowed. "Thank you, man."

"Thank me later," I said, staring him down. "We need to get out of here."

"Don't need to tell me twice." Jake said, standing up. "Let's go!"

Jake followed me as we ran out. He wasn't as fast as me, but I couldn't afford to keep stopping and waiting for him.

"How are you so fast?" he panted, leaning against a broom. "Are all demigods like this?"

"We have enhanced abilities." I answered.

"Rightio," Jake grunted. "Where's Isabella, by the way?"

"I don't know." I snapped. I took a deep breath, composing myself. "I don't know. She gets away from me very easily."

"You aren't really a good babysitter, are you?" Jake asked.

"No." I sighed, cursing myeslf. "Let's find Isabella."

* * *

Unfortunately, when we left the basement, it was chaos.

There were monsters everywhere. Jake yelped, and hid behind me, still shaking. He was shorter than me, and maybe younger, but I wasn't sure. What I _did_ know was he was acting like a mortal.

"Nico, what is all this?" he asked, his face pale.

"Couldn't get rid of me that easily, son of Hades," the empousa from before hissed, stepping forward. He raised his claws. "We found your little friend. She is coming with us."

I glared at him. So many monsters were here. And they all wanted Isabella. Why? I know monsters are always after demigods, but for some reason, they were all twice as desperate to get their claws on Isabella.

I didn't know what their plans were. But I did know I had to stop them.

"Jake," I said. "Leave. Now."

Jake whimpered, "But Nico-"

"Leave." I repeated, sternly. "I'll hold them off."

And the battle begun.


	21. The return of another old friend

**A/N: Hey guys, as a Christmas present to you, I decided to post another chapter of this story! Thank you for your support as always and I hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

It's not everyday you find yourself in combat with a bunch of man-eating giants. But when you're the son of a Greek God, it happens. (Oddly, this feels like a reference to something…)

My mortal friend Jake was running away, while I held out my sword, hoping to deter the monsters from chasing after him. I couldn't take on all these monsters by myself even if I summoned a zombie army to help me (plus, summoning a zombie army would drain the life out of me, pun not intended). And best of all, Isabella was missing. Yeah, that happens a lot. Either it's because she's good at running away or I'm a horrible babysitter. Probably both.

"Die, little demigod." the male empousa hissed, leaping towards me. I rolled out of the way, narrowly avoiding the wall. I scrambled back to my feet, as the empousa leered towards me once again.

"You are a fool," he hissed, towering over me. "Thinking that we would let you live!"

I slashed my sword. He yelped, a searing cut burning across his middle. He laughed.

"Fool!" he bellowed, covering the cut with a clawed hand. "You will burn!"

Something grabbed me, forcing the air out of my lungs. It was a Cyclops, glaring at me with its beady eye. My arms went limp. My lungs felt like they were going to explode. I could hear the monsters cheering all around me.

"Kill him!" they chanted. "Kill him!"

This was the second time this had happened. My life was going fantastically as you can tell. (Demigod standards, I suppose...)

"KILL HIM!" the voices grew louder and more urgent. My vision was going blurry, and my throat was choked.

 _Is this it?_ I thought. _Sorry, Dad. Guess I'll be... seeing you a little earlier than I thought..._

Suddenly, the Cyclops dropped me. The fall knocked the wind out of me.

"Not today!" screamed a familiar voice. Out of nowhere, Jake appeared, slamming a broomstick into the Cyclops. It yet let out an agitated roar, glaring at him. I stared at him with horror.

My voice croaked weakly. "I… I told you…"

"No way," Jake said, shaking his head. "I'm not leaving you here. I know I'm not a demigod or whatever, but... I couldn't just leave you there to die."

He held out his hand. I hesitated for a second. Then, sighing, I grabbed it, and he hoisted me up. I stared into his brown eyes for a moment; he didn't even look scared. He looked quite the opposite. I was at a loss for words. Most mortals weren't this daring.

 _He wouldn't make for a bad hero,_ I thought.

I cleared my throat. I was losing my head here. Valiant or not, he was still a mortal, at the end of the day. I didn't want him to lose his life either.

"Seriously," I said, stepping away from him. "This isn't the place for mortals."

"You're mortal, aren't you?" Jake asked.

I frowned. "Yes, but… I mean… this isn't the place for _humans_. You guys tend to get in the way."

"Are you sure about that?" Jake asked, with a smug smile. His attitude kind of reminded me of Percy.

I tilted my head. "What do you-"

Suddenly, a car crashed through the wall, debris flying everywhere. I covered my face, sound ringing through my ears. When I opened my eyes, I couldn't believe what I saw.

".. Jules-Albert." I said, a small smile surfacing on my face. My zombie chauffeur was mowing over tons of monsters in a big van, with Tartarus' number on the side door. Alarms were blaring, and the sprinklers were going off, covering us with rain. I shook my head. I wasn't really in the mood to deal with water again. Jake helped me up for a second time, a big grin on his face.

"Zombies are so cool," he said, watching as Jules-Albert mowed over two monsters at once.

I almost laughed. "Some mortals aren't so bad, either."

"Not just him," said another familiar voice. "Me too!"

I whipped around, almost falling over for a third time. "Isabella!"

My friend climbed out of my chauffeur's car. She ran over to me, and threw her arms around my waist. I froze up, like a statue. I resisted the urge to push her away. To be fair, we were both covered in water, so it was kind of gross.

"Your chauffeur is so cool," she said, "even if he doesn't talk much."

I gently pulled her off me, but kept a brief hand on her shoulder. "I don't know how you keep getting lost, Bella, but seriously." I took a deep breath. My brain was all mixed up. "Stay. Near. Me."

Bella nodded, still cheerful (and kind of oblivious). "Of course!"

"Guys, I think you should get out of here," Jake said, coming in between us, "those monsters won't stay down forever. And plus, the police will be here anytime."

"Right," I said. Not that the police were any real threat, but I still didn't want to be pulled in for questioning and waste heaps of time. I grabbed Isabella's arm and walked over to my chauffeur. He stared at me with that creepy look only dead people can have.

"Hey," I coughed, digging my hands into my pockets. "Um, sorry about before."

Jules-Albert shrugged. Thankfully, he didn't get angrily very easily.

I nodded. "Can you drive us out of here?"

Jules-Albert returned my nod. I hoisted Isabella into the van.

"What about Jake?" she asked. I clenched my fists. Damn mortals.

"Jake!" I yelled. He was nearby the hole in the wall. The monsters were starting to recover from being mowed over.

"Go!" he replied. "I'll distract them!"

"He's really confident," Isabella said, a small frown on her face. "He'll probably die if he stays here."

"Jake, you'll die if you stay there," I said, taking her advice to heart. "Run away! Get out of here!"

Jake stared at his hands, confidence in his eyes. "No. I'm… coming with you."

"What?!" I asked. Jake ignored my concerns and ran forward, monsters getting up and chasing him. Now the police were here, as well as a lot of screaming guests. The police were shooting monsters, not really doing anything useful. Guns don't work on monsters, trust me.

Jake climbed into the van. The police were now staring at us, and aimed their guns. Unlike monsters, demigods can be shot (Jake as well, for that matter). So I wasn't planning to stick around.

"Jules-Albert," I said, "step on it."

And he did. I sighed in relief, leaning my head against the back of the seat. I closed my eyes, and instantly fell asleep.


	22. Snack break

**A/N: Hey guys, I'm able to work on this story now so hopefully I'll be able to update more frequently! Thanks for reading and enjoy the chapter. Also, Happy New Year!**

* * *

I had another weird dream that night.

A beautiful woman with butterfly wings - who reminded me of Isabella, now that I think about it - was flying through the sky. The woman gave me a gentle smile, before disappearing with a flash of light. Then I saw tons of monsters, all glowering at me from the top of a mountain. I thought they were going to pounce on me, but they all disappeared as well.

Demigod dreams for you, huh?

Then I saw Isabella standing on top of the mountain, eyes glowing.

 _Soul's Child,_ she whispered.

I wanted to call out to her, but before my eyes, I was disappearing as well.

"Hey, Nico, you okay, man?"

My eyes fluttered open. Jake's brown eyes were right in front of my face.

I shoved him away, tensing up. "Personal space, Jake."

Jake blushed, brushing off his shirt. "Sorry, man."

I sighed. I noticed we were in Jules-Albert's jeep, but we weren't moving. Leaning my head against the side of the car, I gazed out of the car window. We were parked in some bushy area, trees everywhere. In the distance, I saw an old picnic table, covered in vines. It looked like it hadn't been used in a while. Clouds were surrounding a tall, imposing mountain. I tilted my head. That was it, alright. Mount Othrys.

"Why've we stopped here?" I asked Jules-Albert.

He stared at me, blankly.

I groaned. "Oh, I get it. You can't take us any further. We have to go by foot from now on, right?"

Jules-Albert kept staring at me.

"That's what I thought," I sighed.

Isabella laughed, catching me off-guard. The sudden swarm of fear I got told me she wasn't as happy as she looked.

"You're nervous," I told her.

Her smile faded. "Just a little…"

"And I'm hungry," Jake commented.

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks for your input."

"I'm kinda hungry, too," Isabella agreed. She sighed, sadly. "But we left all our stuff back at the hotel…"

"Hey, Jules," I turned to my zombie chauffeur, "can you take us to any place nearby that has food?"

He started up the engine. Well, at least he could do that, I suppose.

Another short drive later, we were at the convenience store. Not exactly what I had in mind, but it was better than nothing. It wasn't that big, and there weren't too many people around, either (which was fine with me). It seemed kind of old fashioned, too. Right up my alley. The three of us stood in front of it, cool air in our faces.

"I've got ten bucks," Jake said, holding up a tattered wallet.

"Save it," I told him. "You'll need that to catch a taxi."

Jake frowned, creasing his brow. "Huh?"

"To go back to the hotel," I told him. "No way in Hades am I letting you come with us."

Jake knitted his brows. "C'mon, man! I can help!"

"You're a mortal," I retorted. "You don't know anything about what we're going up against. You're going to get yourself killed."

"But…" Jake trailed off. He raised a clenched fist. "I don't wanna go back to that boring crap! I wanna do something exciting, for once! Fighting monsters! Using super powers!"

I sighed. "Jake, you have no idea how many demigods wish they had your life. That includes me. This may look like fun, but trust me, it's not. It's not all about fighting monsters and 'using superpowers'. Our lives are under threat 24/7. We could be killed at any time."

Jake's forehead creased. "Nico-"

"No," I told him, firmly. "For your own safety, just go home. Please."

Jake glowered at me, before storming into the convenience store. I sighed deeply.

"He's naive, isn't he?" Isabella asked.

I nodded. "He doesn't understand a thing."

A few minutes later, we were all sitting around a wooden picnic table, eating dirt-cheap food. I'd bought some energy bars with some spare cash, while Isabella bought candy (not the most nutritional option, but I'm no advocate for healthy eating). Jake had bought a chocolate muffin, but he hadn't touched it. Isabella was giving him a sympathetic stare, so I assumed he was still upset about before.

"You know," I faced Jake. "You're pretty brave. Most mortals would run away from monsters."

Jake poked his muffin, dejectedly.

"He's got a point," Isabella agreed, brightly. "Most mortals are big pussies."

I almost choked on my energy bar. Even Jake had to snort a little.

"When'd you learn that word?" I asked.

Isabella shrugged. "Some kids at the hotel were saying it."

Jake chortled. "And to think you were innocent!"

Isabella winked at him, giggling. Weirdly enough, the expression on her face reminded me of the woman from my dream.

So I decided to tell the two about my dream. They both looked confused.

"Do all demigods have trippy dreams?" Jake asked.

I nodded, sighing. "Afraid so."

"She had butterfly wings…" Isabella muttered. She crunched a candy bar wrapper in her fist. "That sounds… kind of familiar, for some reason."

"Really?" I asked.

Isabella nodded, a shadow passing over face. "Not sure why…" She looked away, anger radiating out of her. "Um, Nico, are all godly parents this… unresponsive?"

I nodded, gritting my teeth.

"Unresponsive?" Jake asked, tilting his head.

"Let's just say godly parents aren't so godly when it comes to parenting," I answered.

"Oh," he replied, staring at his muffin. "I'm… sorry."

"Don't worry about it," I sighed. "Eat your muffin. You've got a long trip back to the hotel."

Jake scowled. "I…"

"Do it for our sake," I told him. I coughed, awkwardly. "Isabella and I want you to be safe... since you're our friend... I guess."

"We're friends?" Jake asked.

"Maybe we shouldn't be," I frowned. "A mortal who's friends with a demigod is putting their life at risk. I wouldn't want to do that to you."

"I don't care about that," Jake said, putting his hands on the bench. "A friend wouldn't care about all of that, right?"

"You're an alright friend, then," I commented. "But seriously, go back to your family. They're probably worried about you."

Jake laughed bitterly. "I wish. I'm the runt of the litter. I bet they're happy I'm gone."

"I understand that," I told him. "But... still. They'll probably send the police or something after you. You don't want to deal with that, right?"

Jake took an angry bite out of his muffin. "Well, no. Not really."

"There'll be someone there that cares about you," I told him. "That, or you'll meet someone who will."

There was a pause between us.

Jake put down his muffin, breathing in slowly. "I guess I really don't understand, do I…?"

Isabella and I shook our heads.

"Just... be a good person," I told Jake. "Do something good with your life. You don't have to be a demigod to be a hero. Be Elysium-worthy."

Jake nodded, wiping chocolate muffin off his face. "Thanks, man."

"Uh, you're welcome," I replied, still feeling a little awkward. I'm not great at giving heartfelt speeches.

Isabella giggled, spilling some M&M's. I finished off my last energy bar, enjoying a serene silence. Yeah, I could hear traffic in the distance, and my ADHD was keeping me alert, but at least there weren't any monsters. Once we were done, I nodded at my friends.

"Jules-Albert will take you out of here," I told Jake. "Isabella and I will head over to Mount Othrys."

"Alright," Jake said. "Good luck, man."

He held up his hand for a high-five, which I decided to accept. Then he hugged me.

"Personal space," I grunted, tensing up.

"Sorry," he said, stepping back.

"I'll forgive you," I said, "just because I'm feeling nice."

Jake gave me a toothy grin. He then gave Isabella a big hug, and saluted me one last time. He then followed Jules-Albert to the jeep. I gazed down at Isabella.

"Ready?" I asked.

She nodded. "Let's tackle Mt. Othyrs."


	23. Trek up the mountain

I hate forests. They're especially worse when you're tired and cranky.

Isabella by my side, I brushed past heaps of trees. Twigs scratched my skin, and I pulled a leaf out of my hair.

Isabella sneezed.

"Bless you," I said.

She smiled at me, sniffling. "Dandelions."

I blinked. "Oh, will you be okay?"

She nodded. "As long as I avoid them. Besides… they're still not as bad as the monsters."

I shrugged. "Well, as long as the allergy isn't fatal."

We kept going, approaching the foot of the mountain. It towered above us, reaching into the clouds. It made me feel small and insignificant… kind of like how I feel when I'm standing before my father.

"Long trek," Isabella remarked.

I nodded, running my hand through my hair. "Afraid so."

Sword by my side, we began to climb the mountain. We followed a grainy path, passing even more trees and thick bushland. I saw mist and smoke curling ahead.

"The Mist," I told Isabella. "Literal, and magical. Stay near me, okay?"

She nodded. She moved a bit closer to me. I could feel her anxiousness. Honestly, I couldn't blame her. Climbing up a misty mountain was not how I wanted to spend my winter either.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Isabella asked.

"Who?" I asked. "Jake?"

Isabella nodded.

"He's a tough guy," I replied. "Tougher than most mortals. He'll be fine."

"Can we visit him in the future?" Isabella asked.

"If we get out of here alive," I responded.

Isabella shivered.

"Just being honest," I shrugged. "Being a demigod increases your chance of death by tenfold. It's why I didn't want Jake coming with us. I don't want any innocent mortals getting killed."

"That's thoughtful of you," Isabella said, smiling.

"Saves my dad some work," I shrugged. "Though, all mortals die eventually."

Isabella's face shadowed over. "Yeah… I guess."

"Most mortals don't like to think about death too much," I replied. "Coming to terms with your own mortality is a hard thing, I get it. But when you're me, it's not so bad. I'm learning to appreciate life."

"That's good," Isabella said, trying to smile again. "I'm happy for you."

"Don't be," I grunted. "Hanging around zombies 24/7 is not something you wanna do, kid."

Isabella went pale.

"Yeah," I deadpanned. "They never stop complaining."

"No, Nico, look…" Isabella pointed ahead of us. Through the mist, there was a shadowy figure. It was humanoid, but since it was on the mountain, all my red flags went off.

I held out my sword. "Who's there?"

The figure drew closer. Isabella hid behind me.

"Show yourself," I demanded.

The humanoid figure came over to us. He was what I'd call an 'even split'. His skin was half Caucasian, half green. Yeah, green. His ear, on the green side, was pointed like an elf's. His hair was half strawberry blonde, half dark green. It was done up in a neat bun. On the blonde side, he had a blonde eye. On the green side, purple. He was slightly chubby, and wore a purple and white checkered vest with white sleeves. He had plain jeans and black slacks.

"... who are you?" I asked, scowling.

"Huh?" he asked. His voice was feminine. "Oh, hi. Didn't see you there."

"Who are you?" I repeated, more firmly.

"Why are you half green?" Isabella asked. She faced me, and hissed, "Nico, why's he got a girl's voice?"

"They," the half-and-half guy said.

"Huh?" Isabella asked.

"Why do _they_ have a girl's voice," the person said, slightly annoyed. "I'm intersex. I don't really identify as male or female." They blinked. "And who are you anyway, with that big sword? Why are you here?"

I just stared at them. "Um… what are you?"

They crossed their arms. "Gods, why are you all so helpless? Demigods, I swear."

"You're a monster?" I asked.

They shook their head. "Half-nymph. Half-human."

"Half… nymph?" I asked.

"Demi-nymph," they said. "Half nature spirit, half homo sapien. And you and your friend are half god."

I frowned. "Who are you?"

"You've asked that three times now," they deadpanned. "Do you always introduce yourself like this?"

"I like them!" Isabella decided.

I groaned. "I'm Nico di Angelo. Son of Hades. This is Isabella Johnson, godly parent unknown. We're on a quest to venture to the top of this mountain to stop some monsters."

"Well why didn't you say so?!" the demi-nymph laughed. "I thought you were just here to take pictures like those mortal tourists do!" They offered a green hand. "I'm Sage. Nice to meet you."

They grabbed my hand and shook it. I stepped away from them, quickly.

Sage frowned. "Do I have cold hands?"

"He doesn't like being touched," Isabella told them.

"Ohhhh," Sage nodded. "Anyway, so you two are on a quest?" They shook their head. "Tough quest ahead of you."

"Why are you on this mountain?" I asked.

"Nowhere else to go," Sage answered, a dark shadow appearing over their face. "My dad thinks I'm a freak and my mom… my mom is nowhere, so… I just hang around other monsters. That's what I'm treated as, anyway."

I frowned. "Yeah, I understand that… people treat me like that too."

"Son of Hades, huh?" Sage asked. "You must be pretty powerful… and maybe scary, too. That's cool."

"You can come to Camp Half-Blood," I told them. "You might feel at home there."

Sage looked away. "I'm not a demigod."

"Doesn't matter," I replied. "There are nymphs there. Maybe your nymph parent might be there."

Sage stared at their fists. "I… I don't know…"

"Well, I won't force you," I told them. "It's your life. You can stay here, or go there. Up to you. Even Camp Half Blood doesn't work for everyone."

Sage smiled at me. "Thanks for giving me the option. You're way nicer than any of the monsters up there. If all demigods are like you… maybe I'll give this Camp Half-Blood a try."

They then gasped, sweat appearing on their brow.

"What is it?" I asked.

"They know you're here," Sage said, eyes darkening.

"Who?" Isabella asked.

A booming laugh echoed above us.

"What was that?" Isabella whimpered, grabbing my bomber jacket.

The ground trembled, and it wasn't from me. Something was coming. Not something. A lot of things were coming, and fast.

"The monsters," Sage whispered. "They know you're here."

I felt my heart drop to my stomach.

"Thank you, SSSSSSSage," a cold voice hissed. "You've led us right to them."

There were monsters everywhere. We were surrounded, fenced in.

 _Why does this keep happening_ , I thought angrily.

I held up my sword, grabbing Isabella's arm.

A Scythian Dracaena came towards me, hissing as her snake-like legs twitched. As well as her, I saw a few Cyclopes, Laistrygonian Giants, and our old friend the male empousa from the party.

"You again," I spat, glaring at the male empousa.

"Long time no see, little demigod," he chuckled. "Did you really think you could run from me?"

"I'm sorry," Sage whimpered, their eyes watering. "I didn't realise you…"

I sighed, looking down at Isabella. "There's too many for me to take on. We're getting out of here a different way. Hold on."

The male empousa bared his teeth. "Don't you dare, demigod!"

"Nico!" Sage shouted.

Isabella clenched onto my jacket as we shadow-travelled away.

* * *

It was cold, on top of the mountain. There wasn't any snow, but I still felt an icy breeze getting underneath my skin.

Not to mention my body felt like mush. I blinked, lying from my position on the ground. I was sitting on wet grass, rocks towering above me.

"Nico," Isabella said, gently shaking my shoulder. "Are you okay?"

I coughed, trying to force myself to sit up. "Yeah… just, shadow travelling is the worse."

"Nico…" Isabella looked around. "Where are we?"

"On top," I answered, breathing in, "of Mount Othrys."

Isabella blinked, gazing at the surroundings. "Wow…"

I stared at her. "Can you pass me my gatorade?"

Isabella did so. I took a long sip out of it, before forcing myself to sit up. I wiped some icy water off my forehead.

"Thanks," I said. "Alright, we'd better get a move on before those monsters find us."

I stood up, Isabella staring at me worriedly. I could feel her fear pricking at me.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Isabella tugged at her scarf. "I'm just… scared, Nico. Scared that something will happen to you."

I raised my brow. "To me? Kid, the prophecy's about you. You're the one that's going to tear those monsters to pieces. Don't worry about me."

"But…" Isabella blinked. "You're my friend."

I looked away for a moment. "I… well… I'm glad you think so, but…"

"I don't want anyone else to die," Isabella admitted, her sadness coming off in waves. "My whole world was shattered when my dad died."

I awkwardly touched her shoulder. "Yeah, I… I get how you feel. My world was shattered when I lost my sister. But in the end, all you can do is move on."

"I want him back," Isabella whispered.

"I want my sister back too," I told her. "But… the dead don't come back to life. Most of the time, anyway." I winked.

Isabella blinked. "What do you mean by that?"

I sighed. "Long story, kid."

We trudged up the mountain, stepping over countless bushes, puddles of mud, and things like that. I was really sick and tired of nature.

"So…" Isabella spoke up. "Where exactly is this prophecy supposed to take place?"

"I'm not entirely sure," I admitted. "But I do know you're supposed to put a stop to all of the monsters here. How, I don't know. But we'll figure it out. That's usually how demigod things work."

Isabella grabbed onto her head. I felt a stab of pain coarse throughout my body.

"What is that?" I asked, supporting Isabella.

"No…" she breathed. "It's coming."

"What is?" I asked.

"The end," she replied. "I can feel it."

I frowned. "What do you mean by-"

The ground began to shake.

"What's going on..." I breathed. "Isabella!"

"Guys!"

I turned around, seeing Sage running over to us. They bent down, placing their hands on their knees as they panted.

"Sage!" I yelled.

"The monster beneath the mountain," they panted. "It's coming!"

"The monster beneath the mountain?" I asked.

"No," Isabella whimpered, falling to her knees. "Make it... stop..."

"Bella..." I said, grabbing her arms once more.

The ground continued to rumble. A dark presence was growing beneath my feet. The wind whistled, blowing through the trees. I saw a storm brewing in the sky.

"You should get out of here," Sage told us, their eyes watering.

"We can't," Isabella told them. "This is... my destiny..."

"What do you mean?" Sage asked.

"We were sent here by a prophecy," I told them.

"My destiny..." Isabella whispered.


	24. Becoming a god

**A/N: Guys I keep forgetting to update this, I suck... anyway, I promise from now on, updates will be more frequent! Hope you're excited. :D**

* * *

If there's one thing I've learned about being a demigod, it's that life really hates you.

Sure, some demigods get it better than others. Some have a good life with their mortal family. Others, not so much. Some don't even have a mortal family (ie myself). But no matter what situation your family might be in, it doesn't change the fact that as soon as you were born, your life was pretty much screwed.

From an outsider's perspective, being a demigod probably sounds like fun. Fighting monsters, throwing chocolate fountains at an empousa, fighting a manticore on a waterslide, getting in a car chase with your zombie chauffeur. To a mortal, I bet it all looks like fun and games. But to us? It's life and death. You mortals have no idea how lucky you are. I don't mean to sound preachy, but keep living your normal lives. You're much better off than us.

Isabella was one of the unluckiest demigods I'd ever met, including myself. And considering us demigods aren't really known for being lucky… yeah. Monsters had it out for her even more so than your average demigod. I've lost count of all the weird encounters we'd had on our journey. I was genuinely surprised we survived it all.

The dark presence underneath my feet was really putting into perspective how unlucky Isabella was. The dark presence was reminding me of Tartarus, which isn't exactly a fun family vacation hot spot. The storm brewing in the sky wasn't doing us any favours either.

"So," I turned to Sage, who looked like they were going to faint. "A monster under the mountain."

"Get out of here," they repeated, getting into my personal space. "Now."

Their eyes were narrowed, and their fists were clenched.

"Too late," Isabella said, grimly. "It's already here."

The ground began to tremble like my dad was having a tantrum. The trees were falling over one at a time. The solid ground beneath us was full of cracks.

"You're right, Sage," I said. I grabbed Isabella's arm. "Screw it. Let's get out of here."

Isabella pulled her arm away from me.

"You go," she told me, blinking heavily. "I stay."

"Don't be ridiculous, kid," I said, reaching out. "We're leaving. Come on."

"No, Nico," Isabella said, her voice emotionless. "You've done your part already. All you need to do is leave me here."

"With that monster under the mountain?" I asked. "No way in Hades. Come on."

For some reason, I thought of the prophecy for a second...

 _The child of the soul,_

 _A destiny so cold._

But Isabella still refused to move. She turned away from me, as the ground continued to crack. I could hear monsters screeching in the distance.

"What's wrong with you?!" I demanded. "Bella, you're going to die here!"

I realised I couldn't sense her emotions anymore. There was nothing there. It was almost like she was…

" _You're_ going to die if you stay here, Hades' kid," Sage told me, appearing beside me. "Use your shadow powers and get outta here! And, uh, take me too, please…"

"But Isabella…" I reached out.

Isabella stared at me. Her expression was blank. She was starting to look like a soul from the Fields of Asphodel.

 _No, don't think that way_ , I thought. I had to be positive for once. _She's alive. She's not going to die._

"This is my destiny, Nico," she told me. "My soul will be the one to destroy that monster."

"So…" I coughed it out, "you're going to…"

 _A journey she must make,_

 _A heart she must break._

"Die," Isabella finished. "But you're a Child of the Underworld. Death is no stranger to you."

"Yeah," I agreed. "I am a Child of the Underworld." I grabbed her shoulder. "But I'm also a child of a mortal. That means… when possible, even I try to avoid death."

"Then avoid it this time," Isabella told me, expression blank. "You brought me here, you gave me the strength to defeat the monster. You gave me my hero's blessing. That's all you needed to do. You can leave."

"Are you serious?" I asked, clenching my fists. "Did you… know this was going to happen?! That you were going to die up here?!"

Isabella didn't reply.

"You did," I said, trying to control my fury. "So… you've been lying to me."

No response.

"Or have the gods been planning to use you as some kind of weapon?" I asked. "Either way… you knew, and I didn't. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Go," Isabella replied.

"Why did you lie to me?!" I demanded.

"Go away!" Isabella retorted. "You'll die if you stay here!"

A wave of sadness rolled over me, dragging me down. I clenched my fists over my heart. The prophecy came to me in a sudden moment:

 _A heart she must break._

 _The son of Hades protects her fate,_

 _Yet in the end she cannot truly escape._

"Don't die," Isabella pleaded, tears falling down her cheeks. "You're my only friend. Please… don't die."

"Bella…" I tried to speak.

"Alright, fine, I'm leaving without you," Sage yelled. "I don't wanna die either!"

They ran off, leaving us alone.

"Nico…" Isabella sobbed, falling to her knees. "I don't want to die… I don't want to die fighting that thing…"

I kneeled down beside her, awkwardly touching her shoulder. "I know. That's why we're going to leave."

"No, we can't leave," Isabella said, eyes going wide. "That thing has the power to destroy humanity! I don't want to, but…" She gasped. "I know what to do."

"What is it?" I asked.

" _You_ can fight that monster," Isabella said. Her eyes lit up. "That's why you accompanied me. Nico, with my power… you can defeat the monster!"

"With your power?" I asked.

"You gave me my hero's blessing," Isabella told me. "That means you can help me! And we can win... together!"

 _A hero's blessing she must earn,_

 _Or evil consumes and Mount Othrys burns._

 _Hero's blessing…_ I thought.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"I'm the child of the Soul," Isabella told me. "I can combine the godly part of our souls. Which means… we'll create a new god to fight that monster."

"Are you serious...?" I asked, taking a step back.

Isabella nodded. The ground continued to shake. The monster was going to be here at any moment.

"It's up to us," Isabella said, taking my hand. "Nico… if you don't want to…"

"No, let's do it," I said, firmly. "Let's become a god."

Isabella had me stand up. She then took my hands.

"Close your eyes," she told me. "Think of godly power."

When it came to godly power, the first thing I thought of was my father. Then I thought of the other Olympian gods, Chiron, Percy, and all the others at camp. It would be a shame if something happened to them. Camp was the only person I had ever called home.

Then it happened. I was dying and being reborn at the same time. I was screaming as everything turned black and white. My head pounding and my eyes were being forced open. My body felt like it was being flayed alive, but also changing form, getting stronger…

This was it. I was becoming… a god.


	25. The Final Battle

I was dying and living at the same time.

Does that make any sense? Probably not. But there's no real other way I can explain it. I wasn't totally conscious of myself, either. I was only… half-conscious. Half me, half… something else. I was sharing my power with someone, but… we were in harmony.

Together, we were a god.

I opened my… our… eyes. We were taller, bigger, stronger. I felt power flowing through our body. We were able to hover above the ground, power brewing inside of us.

An army of monsters - the same ones from before - appeared before us. However, they trembled as soon as they saw us.

"Is that a god?" the male empousa asked.

Yes, we were a god. We were powerful enough to stop the monsters. To do anything we wanted.

"Where did those demigods go?" the empousa asked, looking around. The other monsters looked around as well.

 _Demigods…_

We glanced over our shoulder, and saw two bodies lying on the ground. We felt a rush of pain. It was our bodies. But we appeared to be… dead. They weren't moving at all.

Had we… died?

No, we were alive currently… that didn't make sense. We knew about death. We would've known if we were dead.

 _We were demigods_ , a voice explained. _Half god, half human. We simply merged our godly halves together to create a new god. That is the only way to save the world._

It was our own voice. We knew what was happening, but at the same time, we didn't. No. _Isabella_ knew what was happening, but I - Nico di Angelo - did not. She knew more than I did. She had been on it since the beginning.

 _That's right, we did,_ I thought. _So… we're a god now, huh?_

 _That means… we can put an end to this._

"Take them out!" the empousa roared.

We had been two separate people, but now we were one god.

 _How we were able to fuse like this?_ We wondered. Well, _I_ wondered. My thoughts were becoming separate.

We flinched at a sharp pain. _Stick together. Think as one._

So _my_ question was left unanswered as we floated away from the monsters. We summoned our stygian iron sword, power raining down on the monsters. It was far more powerful than our original sword.

An army of Cyclopes raced towards us. We swung the sword. With one slash, they all turned to golden dust.

I stopped, for a moment. _So this is the power of a god…_

But of course, this mere army of monsters was not what we were afraid of. No, it was the power thrumming beneath the mountain. The power that reminded us of Tartarus, and dare I say, Gaia.

"We can't defeat them like this," the empousa grumbled. "Fall back!"

The monsters backed away, still watching us. The power grew stronger.

" **Cowards** ," we told the monsters, our voice booming. We weren't used to our voice being so loud.

"Tch," the empousa chuckled. "You know what? Take their bodies. We'll feast on them after this!"

We refused to let that happen. We pulled out a long, golden, flowing whip, and swirled it around in the air. Even a mortal would be able to sense its immense power. We used it to shove the monsters back, keeping them away from our bodies. Golden dust exploded onto the mountain. Judging from their expressions, the monsters didn't seem too eager to attack us again.

We floated toward the bodies, picking them up. They both seemed so small and fragile. Perhaps it was because we were twice the size of an average human, or because it was how gods viewed mortals.

We felt… pity. A weird kind of pity. A pity one might have for a dying ant.

We shook ourselves out of it. No, we were still mortal. These were still our bodies, our livelihoods. Once this was over, we would be mortal again.

Right?

As I doubted myself, I felt the headaches return.

 _Keep it together_ , we coaxed ourselves. _Keep it together._

As the monsters spread out, the thing hiding underneath the mountain began to show itself. It started with the mountain cracking open. We hugged the bodies closer to ourselves, either for comfort or protection (possibly both).

A different power appeared before us. For a second, we weren't sure if we would be able to combat it. At first, it seemed to have Gaia levels of power.

"This is it for you, humans!" the empousa cackled. "You can pretend to be a god all you want, but you won't be able to combat our greatest creation!"

" **Greatest creation** ," we breathed.

"Exactly," the empousa grinned, mouth full of fangs. "I bet you demigods thought you got rid of us all that time ago, huh? No way. Even with that little prophecy girl, we're still going to come back and destroy you, one piece at a time. And the Gods can't do anything about it." His grin grew. "As you said to me, monsters never truly die, do they, Nico di Angelo? Not like you mortals. Once you die, you're gone for good. We disappear to Tartarus for a while, but we always come back. Evil is the same, you know. No matter how much you want to go away, it will _always_ come back."

 _He's right,_ we thought. _Evil always comes back to haunt you._

The _thing_ appeared before us, covering us in a shadow. A shadow even I couldn't control.

I thought of my sister. It'd been four years since she'd died, but… I still felt the pain of her death every day. Not to even mention her resurrection. I could never see her again. She was gone. Forever.

 _No, you can't think about that now. You can't fall apart._

We stared up at the monster, wearing a grim expression. It was towering above us. It really was Gaia all over again.

But as a god, we knew we could handle it. We had no either choice.

We realised what it was. It was the collective power all the monsters had been storing in the mountain, maybe as some kind of backup plan in case Gaia's scheme failed. Or was it something else entirely? Whatever the case, we needed to stop it.

 _Isn't this what Isabella was going to die for?_

We shook our head, covering our bodies in a protective spell. We placed them on the ground. _Don't think about that now._

Weapons in hand, we flew towards the shadow-y mess. Somehow, we were a natural at flying. Like we were born for it. The huge monster's features were obscured, but I saw a row of fangs, clawed hands, and reflective eyes.

We saw our reflection in its eyes: we were twice as tall as an average human, with a glowing complexion, golden, glowing eyes, and flowing, black hair. Our face was feminine, with beautiful features, but our body was more masculine. Overall, we appeared to be androgynous, with a black trench coat over a grey shirt. We had dark blue jeans and black trainers. We were somewhat human, like most gods, but you could definitely tell we were a god as well.

Focusing back on the battle, we held the sword in one hand, and the whip in the other. We flew towards the monster, swinging the sword. The monster stumbled back, before straightening itself.

"You can't win!" the empousa yelled. "You never will win! Even if you defeat us here, we'll always come back!"

We ignored his yelling, raising the whip and wrapping it around the monster. We flew down at a speed that rivalled Hermes and smashed the monster into the ground.

Somehow, we knew exactly what we were doing. No, I understood why. Isabella had been waiting for this battle her entire life. She knew what she had to do. She only needed my power to go along for the ride.

That thought irritated me.

 _You can't think about this now,_ she told me. _Please, Nico. Stay focused._

 _Did your dad know as well?_ I found myself asking.

She didn't respond to that one. We brought our focus back onto the battle. The monster was laying on its side. We... we were _winning_.

 _Now, time to end this!_

Suddenly, the monster got back up, readjusting its figure. It sent a humanoid fist flying towards us. We flew out of the way, just narrowly. We gave a glance at our bodies, which were still fine, thank the gods.

The monster noticed our glance, and turned towards the bodies as well. Before it could do anything, however, we used our sword to slice its arm off. Waves of golden dust poured from the wound, covering the entire mountain like a desert.

In the distance, we could hear machines whirring. It was familiar.

 _Mortals_ , we thought, grimly. Helicopters were flying above us, trying to record the whole situation. Part of me wondered what they were seeing. Who knows what the mist was doing to their vision.

We ignored the mortals for the meantime. We flew towards the monster once again, sword in hand. We shoved the sword deep inside the monster's abdomen, then brought it upwards. The monster roared, sending soundwaves hundreds of kilometres away. To my surprise, though, it didn't die. In fact, its hand reached out and grabbed us.

It began drawing us towards it. Our eyes grew watery from the pressure on our ribs. We tried to fly away, but for some reason, we couldn't. Our feelings were too mixed, stopping us from making a move.

 _Come on_ , I pleaded. _We need to move!_

The monster's face was drawing closer. The helicopters weren't doing much to help. Neither were all of the police cars that were driving up the mountain. Mortals for you, I suppose. They only show up to gawk and take photos.

The monsters beneath us were smirking evilly. They were convinced they'd won. That made us mad. _Extremely_ mad. We tried to fly away - no, _I_ tried to fly away, but Isabella wasn't letting us.

 _What are you doing?_ I demanded. _That monster is going to kill us!_

Her voice was sad. _Nico, this… this is where it ends._

 _Wait, what?_

 _I can't let you sacrifice yourself. I'm sorry._

I felt the pain again. She was trying to… split us up?

No... I understood. She was sacrificing herself.

 _No_ , I thought. _You can't!_

But she wasn't listening to me. I cried out, everything falling apart. I was dying, I was living, I was in Tartarus, I was in Elysium, I was a god, I was a mortal…

 _Goodbye, Nico…_


	26. I meet the woman who ruined everything

I didn't recognise the woman in front of me. But, even though I'm gay, I could tell she was beautiful. I had never seen anyone so beautiful. I wasn't attracted to her, but she was so dazzling I couldn't look away. It was like seeing a sunset, or the Aurora Borealis, or the Isles of the Blest.

She had tanned skin, long, golden hair, and blue eyes. She sort of looked like my boyfriend, but somehow even more radiant. She was wearing casual clothes: a pink cardigan over a white shirt and blue jeans. A large, pink sun hat with a red ribbon around it was on her head. She was just as beautiful as Aphrodite, but somehow… friendlier. Kinder. More gentle. She was familiar, too. I felt like I could approach her and tell her my entire life story. I felt like she would understand. Talking to her would be like talking to an old friend.

She was sitting on a grassy field, a mountain in the background. It was nice and sunny, with only a few clouds in the sky, even though I was sure it was Winter. For some reason, though, that didn't bother me too much. She had a picnic rug set out, and a picnic basket beside her. On the picnic rug was all different kinds of generic picnic food, like sandwiches, cookies, fruit juice, and so on. There was also a teapot, and a few teacups. The thought of tea was weirdly relaxing.

I was lying on the picnic rug. I sat up, shielding my eyes. Everything looked fine, but for some reason, I felt like something bad had happened, but I couldn't figure out what.

"Are you hungry?" the woman asked me, smiling. "You're allowed to eat."

I actually _was_ kind of hungry, so I picked up one of the sandwiches. It was just your average cheese sandwich, but for some reason, eating it made me feel a lot better. It was like eating ambrosia.

The woman, still smiling at me, helped herself to a cup of tea.

"Herbal tea like this is really good for stress relief," she told me, "and lowering your blood pressure. Try some."

I nodded, pouring some red herbal tea into a teacup. I drank it; it was just the right temperature, and I found myself calming down, just a little.

"Feeling better?" the woman asked.

I nodded, my muscles un-tensing. Her presence was calming. I hadn't felt so relaxed in a long time.

"Yeah," I said. "Thanks."

The woman gave me another smile. "You're welcome, Nico. Feel free to help yourself to the cookies; they're all homemade. Please tell me what you think of them."

"Uh, sure," I said, picking up a chocolate chip cookie. I bit it into it, and almost smiled from how good it tasted. It made me think of being at Camp with Will, or sitting around a campfire with no one to get in my space. It made me feel… warm inside.

"Wow," I said, wiping crumbs off my face. "This _is_ amazing."

"Ah, I'm glad you think so!" the woman clapped her hands. "I've been spending the past few weeks trying to figure out how to make the best chocolate chip cookies. My husband thinks I should add more sugar. What do you think?"

"They're… fine," I said. I stared at the half-eaten cookie in my hand. I scowled.

 _What happened?_ I thought. _I can't remember…_

The woman gave me a concerned glance. "Is something bothering you, Nico?"

"Yeah, it's just…" I looked around. "I feel like… something really bad happened, but I don't know what."

The woman gave me a sad smile. "Oh, Nico, we all feel that way sometimes. But it's not your fault. You did everything you could, and that's what matters." She looked away. "I bet others will try to tell you that your best isn't good enough... but in reality, your best is all you have, and if they can't accept that… then that's their problem."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Something bad did happen," the woman said, looking away. "And… when you remember what is, will you be able to forgive yourself? You've been through so much already. Sometimes you need to stop and smell the roses before picking yourself up again."

"Wait, I don't get it," I said, staring at her. "What happened?"

The woman chuckled to herself. "Well, a little while ago… I fell in love with a man. He was kind, with good intentions. He had a lot of faith in the world. Despite being forced to move to another country and leave his family behind, he was able to keep going. He was always actively volunteering, you know, giving away his time to others. He was one of the best people I'd ever met. It didn't take much for us to fall in love. And soon, I was pregnant with my first ever demigod child. But… during the pregnancy, I had a dream. The Oracle told me that our child was destined to lay down her life to destroy the remnants of Gaia's uprising.

"Of course, I didn't want our child to die. Especially not my first demigod child. No god wants their demigod child to die, Nico. But… no matter what, you can't run away from fate. The life of a demigod is a hard one, is it not? I tried to explain this to the father, but it only made him angry. He told me he would not let our child die. He swore it to me. Oh how I wanted to believe him, but… the Fates are not always kind to mortals, especially ones like him. No matter how much I tried to convince him, he was very stubborn on the matter.

He died to protect our child, of course. She meant everything to him. And she ran away. I felt pity. I had to do something to make sure all of his efforts weren't in vain. So I asked for the guidance of a demigod to protect our child. A mellow and powerful demigod who understands life and death better than others. A demigod who could lead our child to her fate. And then I thought of you, Nico di Angelo."

I stared at her, for a while. Then I remembered.

"You…" I trembled, "... you're Isabella's mother."

"I am," she said, with a tearful smile.

My hands were shaking. The grass around me began turning yellow.

"Who are you?!" I demanded. "Did Isabella ever…?"

"You know I am, don't you?" the woman asked.

I stared at her again. I'd seen her before, in a dream. She had butterfly wings, was a goddess… and (that idiot) Eros had mentioned her… she was right. I knew who she was.

"You're Psyche," I replied. "Goddess of the Soul."

Psyche was famous for the myth of falling in love with (sigh, that idiot) Eros. She was also famous for supposedly being even more beautiful than Aphrodite, who consequently tried to ruin her life because (ughh) Eros was her 'son'. Psyche ended up going on a quest to try and earn (bleh) Eros' love back. The quest ended with her being turned into a goddess, and she became Goddess of the Soul and human suffering.

Psyche nodded. "That's me."

I clenched my fists. "Isabella…" My eyes widened. "I can't feel her soul. When people die, I can feel their souls being taken to the Underworld, but I can't feel her soul at all. I'm not sure if she's alive or dead."

"She is gone," Psyche told me. "She sacrificed her soul to stop the monster uprising. But she didn't want the same to happen to you. Once she had the power she needed, she pushed you away… to protect you."

"Gone," I repeated. "But she can't be-"

"When I became a goddess, my mortality was erased," Psyche told me. "If mortality itself can be erased, so can the soul of a mortal. Do you understand?"

I didn't know what to say. I just sat there, trembling.

"I avoided having demigod children for thousands of years," Psyche told me. "I am the Goddess of human suffering. I knew that if I were to have a demigod child, they would most likely suffer just as much as I did. I couldn't do that to a human. Not to mention, I didn't think my husband would forgive me for my infidelity. But then I met Nathan Johnson, through mortal volunteering. I had never met a mortal like him before… and soon, we were in love."

I stood up. The grass was drying up. Dark clouds covered the sky. A cold, sharp breeze passed us. Bones were bursting out of the ground.

"It's not fair to you, either," Psyche said, sighing as she stared at the clouds. "I'm sorry, Nico. You've been through too much. You deserve better than this."

I stared at her. I had to admit... she was one of the very few gods to actually _apologise_ about something.

"This is all I can do to make it up to you," Psyche told me, still hiding her face. "After all, my husband was mocking you about your sexuality… I gave him a scolding after that. But… in the end, you can't run away from fate. And you can't hide from your fears forever. At least, take a moment to stop and smell the roses before facing reality again."

"This place isn't real?" I asked.

"This is your psyche," Psyche told me. "It's controlled by your emotions."

"Oh," I said, staring at the decaying grass. I felt my eyes water. Thunder boomed from above, and rain began to fall down. We sat in silence for a few moments. The rain kept pouring, and the grass was dying. Then it began to slow.

"Are you ready?" Psyche asked.

I clenched my fists.

"Yeah," I uttered, my voice hoarse. "I'm ready."

"You'll be okay, Nico," Psyche said, smiling at me. "You're strong."

And then everything went white.


	27. Another annoying surprise

I felt half-dead. And trust me, I'm the Ghost King. I know what I'm talking about.

My eyes fluttered open. I was lying in a bed, in a room I didn't recognise. I forced myself to sit up. Behind my eyes, tears were threatening to spill.

 _Dammit_ , I told myself. _Don't cry._

But I couldn't help it. Isabella was gone. Forever.

A few stray tears slipped down my face. I wiped them away. I could feel the ground trembling beneath my feet.

I forced myself to stop it. _No, I have to stay strong. I can control myself._

Then Will came to my mind. I shivered. _Oh, gods, how long have I been out? He's going to be so mad at me… I'd better Iris-message him._

"Nico?!

I recognised that voice. It was Sage! They came over to my bed, carrying a basket full of vegetables. They were wearing a dirty apron over their shirt.

"Glad you're okay," they said, relieved. They offered me a carrot. "Want some food?"

"I'll pass," I grunted, my appetite pretty much non-existent. I looked around. "Where are we?"

"Just a little hut I built a while ago," Sage answered.

The wooden walls had shelves with lots of trinkets and framed pictures of flowers. There was a cupboard stuffed full of dry food and boxes. Not to mention all of the plants they had growing underneath the huge window. It was like a mini garden. Yeah, I wasn't too happy to see a bunch of plants, honestly.

"Nice… place," I forced out. My head was stinging. It was harder than ever to be positive.

"Well, I'm leaving it soon," Sage admitted. "I'm going to Camp Half Blood, remember?"

I nodded. "I remember." I frowned, staring at my fists. "Hey, uh... what happened? Where'd you find me? Also, how long have I been out?"

Sage looked away. "Well, after the monster was defeated… I was worried about you and Isabella so I went looking for you two. I found you, lying unconscious at the bottom of the mountain. A pretty lady was there and she told me not to worry about Isabella. So I brought you back here, and let you rest. You've been out for… two weeks, I think? I'm bad at keeping track of time…"

"Two weeks?!" I almost yelled.

Sage shrugged. "Well, I like to sleep in too, sometimes…"

I got up, my legs stinging. "Um, sorry, I really have to call someone."

Sage waved their hands. "Oh, sure! Go ahead!"

"You know what Iris-messages are, right?" I asked.

Sage gasped. "Oh, you want to Iris-message someone? Yeah, I've got a pond out back…"

A few minutes later, I was sitting in Sage's 'backyard', facing a small pond. Sage was nice enough to get a hose to make a rainbow. I pulled a drachma out of my pocket, taking a deep breath. Thank the Gods the sun was out.

"O Goddess," I prayed. "Accept my offering."

I threw the drachma into the rainbow.

"Will Solace, Camp Half Blood," I said.

A few minutes later, I saw Will in our medical tent, wrapping a bandage around one of the Ares kid's arms.

"Um…" said the kid, pointing at me.

Will jumped, then stared at me. He flushed red.

"Nico!" he shouted. "Where have you been?! It's been nearly a month!"

"I got knocked out," I answered.

"Were you using your Underworld powers again?" Will asked, scowling.

"Maybe," I admitted. "But, um… a lot of other things happened as well."

I explained the whole Isabella situation, trying not to get too emotional. My throat felt burned up. Wil's face softened, and I saw a tear in his eye.

"Oh, Nico…" he sighed, putting a hand on his heart. "That poor kid… Nico, I…"

"It's okay," I told him, lying to myself. "Look, I'm going to come back to camp soon. Be ready for me."

"I'm always ready for you," he joked, winking.

I rolled my eyes, my face heating up. "Whatever you say, Dr. Sunshine."

"Death Breath," he replied.

"Mr. Shiny."

"Corpse Face."

"Sun Head."

"Zombie-"

"Alright, we get it, move on!" the Ares kid shouted.

"Hey, um, by the way…" I coughed. "Is there a girl named Penelope Sokolov at Camp?"

Will frowned. "Hmm… do you know her Godly parent?"

"Nike," I answered.

Will gasped. "Yeah, I did! I saw her fighting with her twin sisters. And causing some other trouble."

"Thanks," I said. "Say hi to her for me."

Will nodded. "Is she a friend of yours?"

"Yeah," I said, rubbing the back of my head. "I guess so."

Will went back to scowling. "But seriously, when you get back, we're going to have a long talk about doing reckless things!"

"Of course you will," I grumbled. "But you should know-"

"I know, I know," Will said, comfortingly. "When you come back I'll-"

"Oh for Ares' sake, can you two lovebirds hurry it up?" the Ares kid snapped. "My arm is killing me!"

I glared at her. She glared back.

"She has a point, Nico," Will said, with a charming smile. "See you soon, okay? Love you."

He waved his hand through the message, dissipating it. My cheeks were burning.

 _Love you, Will…_

To my left, I heard sobbing.

"Sage?" I asked, staring at their weeping form.

"Sorry, you two are just adorable together," they sobbed. "And also, that Isabella story… my heartstrings, man."

"Well, you'll get to meet Will in person soon," I told them. "We're going to…"

I trailed off, seeing something flying towards us. A monster with leathery skin, bat-like wings, and an ugly yet familiar face.

"Wh-what's that?" Sage asked, hiding behind me.

"Alecto," I greeted, raising my brow.

The fury landed in front of me, before bowing down.

"M'lord," she said. "I have a message from Lord Hades."

 _Here we go_ , I thought, groaning. My dad was the last person I wanted to hear from.

"What is it?" I asked. I suspected that it probably wasn't going to be _'oh my son, I'm so happy to hear you're safe!'_ or even _'congrats on finishing your quest!'_ or just _'thank you',_ for that matter. Great guy, my dad.

"He wants you to attend to the Olympian Council," Alecto replied.

"Oh," I said, making a face. "When is the Olympian Council?"

"In approximately three hours," Alecto said.

I sighed. And to think I was going to go back to Camp.


	28. The Meeting

**A/N: Note in advance, this takes place after Trials of Apollo, assuming Apollo became a god again lmao**

* * *

I've only been to Olympus once. I wouldn't call it my favourite place in the world, but even for me, it's still easy to admire. Percy once said the Olympian throne room makes the Empire State Building look like a 'broom closet', and honestly, I can't disagree with him there. The palace was huge, the marble walls towering into the dark and wintery sky. It reminded me of my dad's palace, but without all of the gloominess. Well, aside from the chilly breeze that made me wish I had another jacket.

I wasn't especially happy to be there. I hadn't really gotten over… everything that had happened. It was lurking at the back of my head. I wanted to turn around and go home, but I forced myself to keep moving.

I arrived at Olympus about an hour before the meeting was supposed to start. Nearby the palace was a little village, where there were shops, live music, and other stuff. Walking through the peaceful streets were demigods, satyrs, nymphs, and more. I walked around myself for a bit, checking out some of the shops. My father hadn't made any appearances, so I assumed I'd see him at the council.

 _Maybe I should get something for Will_ , I thought, absentmindedly.

I guess I must've looked gloomier than usual, since a lot of the shopkeepers were giving me wary looks. I ignored them, focusing on buying a present. I tried really hard not to think about Isabella. I thought about Sage instead. They had wished me good luck, telling me they'd see me at Camp.

 _If I survive, that is,_ I thought. Percy had told me his experiences with the Gods. Apparently, the meetings were a hot-spot for them to hate on him. I hoped I wouldn't get the same experience.

I thought about Isabella, again. She would've loved Olympus.

I gritted my teeth, my heart hurting. I focused on a cool necklace I had found. It wasn't too expensive, and there was a chance Will would like it.

"Looks like you're having fun, son-in-law."

I tensed, turning around. Apollo, in all his golden glory, was leaning against the wall.

"Lord Apollo," I bowed, respectfully. (Hey, it pays to have manners.)

"Buying a gift for someone?" he asked, smirking. "Let me guess, for my son?"

"Yeah, actually," I said. Now that he was a god again, he was suddenly more intimidating. "Do you… have any gift ideas?"

"Ah," Apollo nodded. "What a thoughtful boyfriend you are, Nico di Angelo! As for a gift… well, honestly, I don't think Will would mind what you get him. He'd just be happy to see you in the flesh."

"I guess so, but…" I looked away. "I still want to get him something."

"Then I recommend something he would use," Apollo said. He winked. "You know him well. I'm sure you know what his hobbies are."

 _Something he would use…_ I thought. _Hey, I think I've got an idea..._

* * *

Time flew by. Before I knew it, it was time for the council. I walked out of the store, trying to stay positive. (And I mean, _really_ trying.) I put the gift away, headed to the Olympian palace.

I told myself to calm down as I walked up the marble stairs. Ahead, I saw the enormous Olympian thrones, arranged in the shape like they are back at Camp. Each throne was occupied by a god or goddess, who were all at least five meters tall. Apollo winked at me as I entered, though I'm not sure he was going to listen to the meeting at all since he was wearing those weird AirPod things. The other gods stared at me, ominously. I glanced at my father, for a moment. He was sitting on his dark throne, a shadow over his eyes. He had the same stern look on his face. Not surprising but it didn't help my nerves.

"Hiya, Nico!" I heard a cheerful voice. I turned to my right, seeing Psyche. Unlike before, she had a pair of butterfly wings sticking out of her back, and a long, pink dress. Sort of like an expensive prom outfit. She astounded me for a moment, until she started waving at me like we were besties. Honestly, to be fair, most gods aren't that casual.

I faced ahead, seeing Zeus sitting on his own large throne. His electric blue eyes pierced my gaze. Electricity seemed to be flowing around him, rather dauntingly.

"Nico di Angelo," he boomed. "Son of Hades."

I bowed down, fingering my skull ring. "Lord."

I felt every god watching me with caution. No pressure or anything, right?

Well, not really. I just wanted to go back home. I was so tired of this quest. All of it was to lead an innocent girl to her death. No, she wasn't even dead. She was gone forever. I hated it. I despised it. It wasn't fair. A fate she did nothing to deserve, just because she was Psyche's child.

I could see why Luke had joined Kronos.

"The threat of Mt. Othrys has been ceased, thanks to you and the help of another demigod," Zeus declared.

"Even so, is that truly the last of it?" Athena asked, catching my attention. She had the same eyes as Annabeth Chase.

"Hopefully it will be, for now," Zeus replied. "In the meantime, this is the time to celebrate our victory."

That hit me.

"Celebrate…?" I found myself asking, rage building. "Lord Zeus, no disrespect intended, but… I don't think it's the time to _celebrate_. A… a hero gave up her existence to protect everyone."

The gods murmured to each other. The murmuring soon became shouting. Zeus gave me a harsh glare and looked like he was about to chew me out, but to my surprise, my father held up a hand and cut him off.

"Nico," he said.

I looked up, addressing my father.

"It is unfortunate," he said, his tone slightly gentle, "that your friend lost her... _existence_. However, there is nothing we can do to reverse that. You must remember that some losses are meant to happen."

I was about to respond, but I held my tongue. My father was right. Some losses were meant to happen. I just didn't want it to be hers.

I felt a presence behind me. I glanced over my shoulder, seeing Psyche.

She smiled at me. "It's okay, Nico. You'll be fine."

I didn't want to believe it, but I wasn't going to lose my temper in front of the Olympian gods.

"Just…" I looked up. "We should honour her life, at least…"

Psyche nodded in agreement. At least I had one god on my side.

"Very well," Zeus raised his hands. "To Isabella Johnson, the girl who sacrificed her existence to save us."

And we raised our hands in praise.

 _Isabella, you did good,_ I thought. _I'll miss you, forever._

* * *

I wasn't particularly in the mood to celebrate, but there I was.

The muses were playing their songs, food was being served, all of the regular stuff you would find at a party was happening. Aside from the addition of Greek Gods, I suppose.

I wasn't into it. I left the palace, standing outside by myself. I leaned against the wall, icy wind battering my face. The thought of partying made me sick to my stomach.

"I can't blame you for being out here."

Psyche joined me outside, a glass of nectar in her hand. She had gone back to her casual attire.

"Thank you for telling them to honour my daughter," she said, smiling at me. "Not even some of the other gods have the guts to stand up to Zeus like that."

I looked away. I felt some of her emotions; distress, sadness…

 _She's putting on a brave face_ , I thought. _Like Isabella did._

"You're putting on a brave face too," she said, giving me a gentle smile. "But I suppose all demigods have to. That's what makes you all so amazing."

"Is there something you want, Psyche?" I snapped. I frowned. "Uh, sorry, Lady Ps-"

"Don't worry about it," Psyche waved her hand. "'Psyche' is fine. I'm not fond of the whole 'lord/lady' thing." She coughed. "Anyway, there is something I have come to offer you."

I stared at her.

"For a long time, I've been searching for a demigod to be my champion," she said, looking away. "I couldn't use my own daughter, since, well… you know… and then you come along, as the next best thing. We are kindred souls, are we not? I understand human suffering just as well as you do. If we work together, we can help a lot of other humans dealing with suffering."

My stare intensified.

"There are all sorts of people out there who need our help," Psyche continued. "If we work together, we can make the world a better place. We'd make a good team. The world needs someone like _you_ , Nico. Become my champion."

"I…" I trailed off. She wanted _me_ of all people to be her champion? "Why me?"

"Because you understand," Psyche told me. "Not many demigods have suffered as much as you, and yet you still keep going no matter what. Heck, not many mortals have either. You're very strong like that." She smiled. "Don't forget - you're the first demigod to come out of Tartarus alive. You're the one who brought honour to your father's house and convinced him to help in the Second Titan War. You're the one who noticed Hestia after she was ignored for many years. You're the one who saved my daughter."

I stared at her. "I..."

"Your life is invaluable," Psyche continued. "The world could use a few more people like you." She bowed her head. "Of course, it's still your life... if you become my champion, you'll be under my patronage, meaning you will stay in my cabin rather than your father's, if I have one. You will also be doing a lot more quests with me, meaning you won't be around your mortal friends or sister as much… also, I will grant you immortality if you desire it. In other words... your life will change quite a bit. But it will be forever rewarding, I promise."

I went silent.

"I'll give you time to think about it," Psyche said, leaving me alone. I stared at the sky, my brow creasing.

 _Psyche wants me to become her champion?_ I thought. While becoming a goddess' disciple, in some ways, was appealing, my thoughts drifted to my life back at Camp. What about my boyfriend? My friends? For a second, I even thought about my father.

Speaking of my father, I felt a dark presence beside me. I turned, staring up at my father. Dressed in dark robes, he leered down at me.

"Father," I greeted.

"My son," he replied.

There was an awkward silence.

"You did well on your quest," Hades said, trying to be gentle again (emphasis on _trying_ ). "Once again, you brought honour to our house. For that… I am proud of you, Nico."

I looked away, feeling my throat grow dry. A small part of me did appreciate his compliment, I guess. I was glad my dad couldn't read my emotions like Psyche could. (Or maybe he could. I hoped not.)

"Father…" I turned to face him. I hesitantly explained the Psyche situation.

Hades sighed. "Well, boy, if you truly wish to be her champion, that is your choice. I will not stop you."

I was kind of surprised. I was expecting him to be angry about the situation, but apparently he seemed fine. Or he wasn't showing it. I honestly don't know.

My thoughts turned to Will. I did know _he_ would be upset. And so would Hazel. Would I still be able to see her?

"Nico," my father spoke. "Even if you do decide to become the champion of Psyche, you will still be my son. Do not forget that."

He walked away after that, leaving me alone. I suppose my father would never be as nice as Isabella's, but… he'd gotten better. I didn't loathe him as much as I used to.

"Thanks... Dad," I called out.

He glanced at me over his shoulder, before disappearing.

* * *

I went back inside the palace. The Muses were playing some awful pop songs, and a lot of people were dancing to them for some reason. I saw Apollo again, and he gave me a blinding smile. I decided to focus on finding Psyche.

I found her next to her husband. They were standing next to the food table, laughing with each other.

Psyche perked up when she saw me. I avoided Eros' gaze as she walked over to me.

"How goes it, Nico?" she asked, eager. "Have you made your choice?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Lady Psyche, I'm going to say…"

* * *

 **A/N: CLIFFIE HA HA HA**

 **Psyche was good to our boyo Nico. Hades still best god tho. See you next time... for the finale! I hope you're ready.**


	29. One last goobye END

He was beautiful. Well, as beautiful as an annoying shiny doctor boyfriend can be.

Will was wrapping up some bandages when I walked into the medic tent. I suddenly felt very mischievous. I stayed within the shadows, creeping up on him.

Will looked uo. "Huh? Someone there?"

"Hey," I said, appearing from behind him.

Will screeched, dropping his bandages.

"Nico di Angelo!" he scolded. "I can't believe you…" he trailed off, eyes widening. "Nico… you're back!"

He reached out to hug me, then hesitated.

"Yeah, sure," I sighed. "Go ahead."

He grinned, then wrapped his arms around me. He was warm, like gentle sunlight (unlike me - I'm always cold). He smelled like a mix between the beach and a dentist's office.

"Hey hey hey," said another voice. "Look who's back!"

I turned, facing Will's siblings, Kayla and Austin. Kayla had her arms folded, and Austin had his saxophone in arms.

"Nice to see you back, man," Austin said. He looked off in the other direction. "About Isabella…"

"Maybe don't," Kayla advised, grabbing her brother's shoulder. She gave me a sympathetic smile.

I looked at Will, trying to change the subject. "Is Penelope around?"

Will nodded. "She'll probably be in her cabin." He looked at his siblings for confirmation; they nodded.

"Thanks," I said, heading off. I walked across the camp, feeling a lot of people staring at me. I don't know if they saw me as a hero or what, but it was still disconcerting. Yeah I wanted to be recognised as hero, but I didn't want everyone leering at me all the time.

"Nico!"

That voice was familiar. I turned around, and saw Penelope running straight towards me. She was dressed in the Camp Half Blood shirt, but still wore her bomber jacket. And she still looked mad.

"Took you long enough to get here," she replied, folding her arms across her chest. "Moron."

"Nice to see you too," I drawled.

Her expression softened. "Hey… about Isabella…" And then, her eyes watered. She blinked, wiping away her tears. She hid her face behind her hands.

I didn't say anything, and just clenched my fists. I didn't want to get mad. Bad things happened when I got mad.

"You don't even look upset, di Angelo," Penelope chastised. "Is your heart dead?"

I gave her a cold stare.

"Stare at me all you want," she snapped. "It seems you don't care at all."

"You really think that?" I asked, quietly.

I noticed Penelope take a step back.

"Right, right," she said, shaking her head. "I'm... sorry, Nico. You were very close to her, though you didn't show it. You must miss her a lot."

I glowered at her. Then I turned away.

"Yeah," I got out. "I miss her."

Penelope reached out, but hesitated.

"Stay strong," she said, trying to smile at me. I glanced back at her, before walking away.

* * *

I found myself headed towards the forest. Within the trees, the nymphs were peering out. Either at me, or they were hiding from the satyrs again.

I saw Sage, conversing with one of the nymphs. They glanced over their shoulder, smiling as I approached.

"Hey, Nico!" they waved. "You made it back! So good to see you!"

I returned the wave, half-hardheartedly. Not everyone said 'so good to see you' when they saw me coming.

"Where are you going now?" Sage asked.

"There's someone I need to visit." I told them. "I'll see you later, Sage."

I continued walking. It was time to visit someone… a little different. But someone I felt needed to understand.

* * *

I was in Elysium.

Even I have to admit Elysium is a pretty nice place. There's always some kind of barbecue happening, or a party of some kind. People are always strolling around, looking relaxed. There's some sunlight in there (not natural of course) and cottages to stay in. Nice place to go for vacation. (Well, if you don't mind all the dead people.)

"Nathan Johnson," I said, summoning the man I was looking for.

A middle-aged man with tanned skin, brown hair, and blue eyes appeared before me. He had a gentle smile on his face, and a calm demeanour. Much better than the one I'd seen in the dream. All the stress he'd had melted away. He looked... relaxed. I suppose that's what Elysium does to people.

"Can I help you, Lord?" he asked, politely.

"I… I knew your daughter," I said, putting my hands in my pockets.

Nathan raised his brows. "You did? H-How is she?"

"I'm sorry," I said, looking away. "But she..."

Nathan stared down at his shoes. "Oh… honestly… I was expecting that. I didn't want my daughter to die. She was everything to me. I did everything in my power to prevent it from happening, but…" He wiped his eyes. "Isabella… why her?"

I let him mourn to himself. He wiped his puffy eyes, and stared at me again.

"Were you a friend of hers?" he asked.

I nodded.

Nathan laughed. "Ah… you seem like a good kid. I'm not saying that just because of your power over the dead, I really mean it. I'm sure… I'm sure Isabella loved being friends with you."

"She was more like a little sister to me, now that I think about it," I said, putting my hands behind my back. I choked up.

 _Don't cry, don't cry-_

"Then I'm sure you were a great brother," Nathan told me. "Thank you… for taking care of my daughter."

"The pleasure's mine," I replied, bowing my head.

* * *

I was back at Camp. After everything, I was tired. I sat by the hearth, Hestia sitting next to me.

"You did well, nephew," she told me.

I sipped my cup of hot cocoa.

"Have pride in your achievements," she advised. "Don't let it get to your head, but still… be proud of what you have achieved."

I frowned. "But Isabella…"

"Every quest comes with a sacrifice," Hestia told me. "You of all people understand this, right?"

I grimaced.

Hestia smiled at me. "I believe your friend would want you to stay strong."

"You're right…" I sighed, staring at the sky.

 _Isabella, I'll never forget you_ , I thought. _I promise._

* * *

I was in another dream. Psyche was in front of me, sitting at a fancy table with a pot of tea. I sighed.

"I told you no thanks," I said. "I want to stay at Camp for now. That's... that's where I belong."

"I understand," Psyche nodded. "It's what makes you happy. But if you ever change your mind..."

I sat down on a stone wall that appeared out of nowhere. Psyche sat next to me. A sunset appeared behind us, shining light across the horizon.

"Maybe she's still out there, watching you from the stars," Psyche said.

I didn't reply, staring at the ground. For a brief moment, I swear I felt a presence. Someone reaching out for me, telling me it was going to be okay.

 _If you're out there, Isabella_ , I thought. _Best of luck. I still miss you._

And then I finally began to cry.

* * *

 **A/N: And that's all folks! Thank you so much for reading this story. I know it took ages to get it done but it's finished now! Tbh I've had a bad run with Percy Jackson fanfics, I'm not sure what it is, but I just suck at writing them. I love PJO but man I can't do the series justice. :/ I already discontinued my Thalia Grace series and I felt bad discontinuing any more fanfics so I decided to finish this one. At least it's done now lol. As for sequels, sadly there won't be one, but I am kind of working on a different PJO fanfic on the side. It's one of those 'mortals meet demigods' stories since I love those. I'm trying to make it different from other mortals meet stories. If I ever post it... keep an eye out for it. Until then... thank you for reading!**


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